


The Legend of the Seventh Hokage

by Iamwritingthis



Category: Naruto
Genre: Adventure, And So Much More, Angst, Are you ready to embark ?, But I don't want to use tags, Cliffhangers, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Fun, Humor, I may be awfully wrong, It is an elaborated, Jokes, Love, Multi, Plot, Plot Twists, Smut, that would spoil the story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-28 15:07:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 42
Words: 80,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10125389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamwritingthis/pseuds/Iamwritingthis
Summary: Hokage he was. Not so many people could say that they had fulfilled their childhood dream. Life or whatever it was, made it so most people did not become whom they wanted to. He knew his twelve-year-old self would cheer loudly. He had never went back on his word. That was still his ninja way, after so many years...Naruto knew about fulfilling dreams. You either live to regret not making them come true or realize that you only had a very superficial idea of what you wanted for yourself...This is the story of how a legend was born.





	1. A point of view

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto. All characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto.
> 
> Warning : This story intends to be true to the events that occurred in the manga Naruto, while taking place sixteen years after the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War. Some elements of Boruto : Naruto next generations are included, but the Legend of the Seventh Hokage will totally diverge from the Naruto sequels and event contradict Boruto's adventures.

The God Tree had fallen. It had withered, turned into ashes that scattered into the wind as gray clouds. Only the stump and some of its enormous roots remained. The land all around it was rough and dead for miles. There were only rocks and dirt, giving it a lunar aura, which was only denied by the many dried up blood stains. If the tree had been revered as sacred and its surrounding considered a sanctuary, it was now feared as profane and its land forsaken as if bearing a mortal disease. The memories of the war were fresh, the souls of the dead carried on by the hearts of the living. He had no such weight upon his shoulders, he could not care less about the deceased and nostalgia was not a tool he could use. One day, however, The God Tree would serve a formidable purpose : His.

The deserted land made it so much easier to approach the tree unnoticed. Facing the gray dried up stump, he cast an earth jutsu, creating a rift beneath the roots. The wood screeched, its scream impressively amplified by the empty land. The base of the tree separated in halves, leaving the core exposed. He took a few steps onto the stump and got on his knees. He smirked and licked his teeth. As expected, the very heart of the tree was still alive. He gave it a sharp tap and took out a piece of the core, leaving it bleeding where it had been severed.

Humans were self-centered beings that did things only to achieve pleasure. He did not believe in the concepts of good nor bad. There was no such thing as an evil or a virtuous person. There were only people concerned about doing what made them feel good. The higher the moral standards they restrained themselves to, the greater they felt. Those who were regarded as the epitome of benevolence were, in fact, egomaniacal. As they cared, gave and shared with others, the gratitude and love they received in return was way more satisfactory to them, than whatever effort they had put in their actions. They liked to be fawned upon so much, most especially those who denied it with vehemence. Deep down, they were still narcissistic children.

He did not think, however, that it was wrong nor did he criticize it. It was just the way things were. He had understood that a long time ago. Unfortunately, not so many people had accessed this kind of comprehension in life. He had faced many old, wise women and men, but they had all refuted it. They said it was depriving existence of its essence. They had wanted to know what had led him to rip social behavior of its moral. He didn’t care about how he gained this knowledge. It was only because people thought that there was something called good in each and every individual, that they needed excuses explaining the evil they found.

He believed, however, that there were clever people and others nearly devoid of intellect. He, himself, was extremely intelligent. He was unique. He had realized that very early in his life. School had always been slow and boring. Other children were immature and senseless. One of his greatest disappointments had been about finding out that most adults were too. He was but a mere teen when he discovered that he was more intelligent than his sensei and the Hokage himself. There was no one out there to answer his questions, to challenge him in his wisdom of life.

“I want you to answer an ethical question,” had said his sensei.

“Ethic is for simple minds,”he had answered.

“It keeps balance and order in our communities. It maintains and preserve social space.”

“There is nothing to be preserved, as there is nothing to lose.”

“You do not think that social space and therefore, the human life, is worth preserving ?”

“No matter the state of the being, life is always preserved.”

“Would you care to explain ?”

He had sighed. “The human life you are referencing is the one where the body is breathing and the mind of the individual active. However, sapiens death is not the end of life. Our passing is the birth of thousands of insects, fungi of many sorts and plants. It is nourishment for this earth soil ; it is grass, trees, animals. Life has no other way of being than to be blooming in a form or another. It is an infinite cycle, which doesn’t need any grooming or preserving. We are inhabited by life, but we are not it.”

“That is a nice biological observation, but you are deviating from the social aspect of preservation.”

“Social preservation is tautological. Social space is preserving people from their own destructive instincts to put an end to it.”

“The duality of the social experiment is what maintains its capacity to evolve.”

“That is where biology and social science fuse. Social space is alive and therefore trapped in a vicious circle. It doesn’t need maintaining. Whatever we do, it will endure and live on.”

“What is the meaning of this kind of life ?”

He had laughed. “There is no meaning to it.”

After years of discussing with others, he had come to the conclusion that they were all trapped in an ideological pattern. They were the fruit of the society they lived in, the family they were raised by, the way they led their life. He saw people as manufactured products. More than ninety-eight percent of the world population could be tossed away ; it would not have an influence on the course of history. He, on the other hand, was exquisitely handcrafted. He was worth tens of thousands of those life merchandizes. Therefore, there was no guilt, no remorse, no thinking twice about kidnapping the first commoner he met on his way back. He had been lying in his field, resting after a _good_ day.

The God Tree and the peasant: Those had been the first steps he had taken towards achieving his goal. Many years had gone by since then. He had patiently crafted the tools of his success. Now, after having devoted himself to the limits of what science and ninshuu could offer, he was finally outside, getting on with the next phase of his plan. To the world, he had simply disappeared. He was probably presumed dead. He enjoyed the idea. He did not plan his actions in regards of the pleasure he got out of it, but when the turn of events would procure him satisfaction, he doubly rejoiced.

Now, he was waiting for one of the pawns he intended to use. Like any prey, it had habits and sooner or later, it would come back here, where he was waiting. That particular one was a master key that he would use thoroughly for the years to come. He knew that tool like no other one. It was a difficult one, hard to get accustomed to. However, if he used it with the right technique, it would produce marvels. He had perfected his skills for more than a decade for the masterpiece he would achieve.

Sure enough, after a day and a half of waiting, concealed deep into the forest, it showed. He let it roam around, as to get comfortable and unsuspicious of its surroundings. When it had seemed to settle, seating feet dangling over the void, looking without seeing the waterfall, he proceeded to make his presence known.

“Who are you and what do you want ?” asked the raven without looking back, not moving a muscle.

“Surely Sasuke-kun… you’d have to recognize me.”

The raven’s head shot up. He swiftly turned around to face the man.

“After so many years…”

He simply smiled at the Uchiha.

“What do you want, white snake ?”

“Oh… same old, same old.” His body disappeared into the ground.

Sasuke jumped forward as a hand was about to grab his leg from beneath him.

“I know all of your little tricks,” said disdainfully the raven.

“Oh you thought you knew all of them… and since then, I have learned quite a few that you don’t have any idea about.”

A kage bunshin gave the Uchiha a knee hit in the back. Sasuke crashed into the ground. A mud replicate punched him from underneath and sent him flying. A water duplicate grabbed him by the ankles ; the raven evaporated it with a Great Fireball.

“I see you are merely using the same old tricks, though, Sasuke-kun.”

“Hn… I don’t need new ones for you.”

The Uchiha ran towards his opponent, striking him with chidori, piercing the body of a wind bunshin. The raven threw multiple shurikens into a wooden replicate. Over twenty duplicates of different types appeared and circled him. Sasuke rolled his eyes, invoking as many bunshins. Each placed a hand on his enemy’s replicates and used the deva path to absorb their chakra. In a puff of smoke, they left the caster a few feet away from the Rinnegan user.

“You love your bunshins. Have you been training with Konohagakure’s Hokage ?”

The Sannin smirked and licked his teeth. “I thought you’d like the knowing wink.”

“Yeah, well, we already have our copy ninja, so find another…” The Uchiha choked on his word and retched water.

He did not have time to breathe in as he was vomiting another large amount of it. He teleported himself under his adversary using Amenotejikara and sent him flying with a kick in the jaw. The hit instantly broke the jutsu, enabling the raven to inhale. Sasuke jumped, shadowing the man and kicked him on his left side. He then crushed his face with an elbow hit, sending the white snake to the ground and finished the combo with a kick to the stomach.

“Hn… is a lion barrage an old enough knowing wink for you ?”

Multiple Gates of the Great God fell over the Uchiha pinning him to the ground. Immobilized, he felt like a fish out of water as no air entered his nose or mouth. This ghost from his past was using ninjutsu in ways he had never seen before. The ground around him collapsed, burying him under waves of mud.

The raven cast Susanoo, breaking free, facing his adversary bearing a bow and arrow, saying : “Sage Art ? I’m impressed. But it won’t do against the Sage of Six Paths.”

His opponent summoned a Rashomon gate as to protect himself from Indra’s arrow. Knees and hands to the ground, he felt an incendiary sword going through his torso from the back. The raven was standing behind him. .

“I don’t need new tricks. I just needed to make you believe I did not notice your presence as I arrived and put you under genjutsu without you realizing it.”

The illusion dissolved, melting away the Sasuke casting Susanoo. The Uchiha took his blade infused with Amaterasu out, his former master falling flat to the ground. His enemy struggled, melting under the black flames, but seemed determined to turn around. The raven cleaned his sword alongside his pants and put it back in its scabbard. He went on his knees, not touching the dying Sannin. As he rolled over, Orochimaru laughed feebly.

He looked into Sasuke’s eyes and said : “You will encounter death.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading ! I appreciate any constructive criticism. :)


	2. Hokage

An eagle had flown in, bringing a message personally addressed to the Hokage.

Hokage he was. Not so many people could say that they had fulfilled their childhood dream. Life or whatever it was, made it so most people did not become whom they wanted to. He knew his twelve-year-old self would cheer loudly. He was immensely proud of having stayed true to his word. He never went back on it. That was still his ninja way, after so many years.

As he had wished then, he was acknowledged. Every single person in Konoha was paying him respect. The children came running to him and he ruffled their hairs. Sometimes, he even showed off a bit, because they were easily impressed and liked to be remembered why he was their Kage. Men and women bowed to him, the baker gave him nice fresh bread every time he went by and the hunter and fisherman their best catch. In his presence, the genins stared at his prosthetic arm, the chuunins looked down and stuttered Hoka-Hokage-sa-sama and the joonins were of great counsel and advised him wisely.

It was not because he was a particularly acute strategist that he had been chosen to be the seventh. No, he simply had unbreakable will. Because of that, he had been able to rally the entire shinobi community into the greatest of alliances. They had won the most important and greatest of wars. The ninja world had entered an era of peace and prosperity like never before. Kurama growled in his head.

“Of course it was because of you too, my friend.”

The seal was long gone. The friendship between the jinchuuriki and Kyuubi had blossomed. Over the years, their existence went from sharing the same body to merging into one and unique identity. The tailed beast, as he used to call him, did not need to be contained anymore. They lived together and that would be until Naruto died. After that, the fox would completely be free.

Although, since he had been designated as Hokage, Kurama had become even more impatient and grumpy. The years that had led the Uzumaki boy to be chosen as the seventh had been full of battles and chakra deployment. It had been a perilous path and more than often, the two of them could’ve been killed. Kyuubi thought of those days as amazing.

“Where’s the fun now ?” hissed the fox.

“It is in not having to worry that the Leaf’s children might die today.”

“Naruto… the last reincarnation of a super sweet granny.”

The blond laughed and sighed. Deep in his heart, he had to admit that he felt the same. The road to his lifelong aspiration had been far more impressive than the goal itself. He had had a very candid view of what the title meant back then. He had only seen the glory of being the strongest, of having surpassed them all. He had not been mistaken in that, but it had only been an image : what the title projected. It had nothing to do with the reality of being a leader. He had never felt more powerless and the only good fight he'd get would be with his own feelings.

After the first couple of months in the position, he had started to get depressed. He was rarely outside and barely seeing his friends – most of them he sent away in missions as ANBU members. He was frankly not giving enough attention to his children and he knew his caring Hinata went to sleep with a heavy heart. He regretted that his ambition was depriving his family of the father and spouse he was supposed to be.

The lack of action was also taking a great toll on him. His body had been accustomed to the rush a combat gave. All of his muscles ached, and he felt stiff from his constant static state. Every day, very early, before the children wake, he went to train and that kept him fit. Nevertheless, his fighting senses had dulled, he was feeling himself getting slightly less sharp. Nobody but himself noticed. He would still be an immensely accomplished ninja for many years. He would just not be the one he knew he could. His ANBU years were behind him.

Kurama, though, was unable to remain inactive. After all, the fox figure was chakra incarnate. The very reason of his existence was as a flow of energy. Ninshuu had maybe been intended to connect people, but, however you used it, a life form created from this source had to move. Kyuubi had nearly gone insane from being trapped into Naruto as a baby, as a boy and in his first teenage years.

The seventh and the beast had not followed the directives left by the Sage of Six Paths. Ootsutsuki Hagoromo had asked the bijuu’s yang part to go back to his jinchuuriki, acting as a connection for all of his peers. Sasuke had then gone overboard, putting all nine tailed beasts under his control, wanting to exterminate them before releasing everyone from the Infinite Tsukuyomi… after having killed his one and only friend.

“The mother of all shitty plans,” barked Kurama.

“He was very tormented.”

“Was ?”

The blond smiled.

After having released the bijuus, the ninja could not bring himself to imprison Kyuubi again. As the fox’s ying counterpart that had been sealed within his father had merged with him, the yang half didn’t have to come back. The creator of ninshuu wasn’t there to object anymore, so the most unpredictable ninja had let the other part unshackled. The animal's other self had been roaming the world to his heart's content ever since. When the part buried was getting too tense from being trapped in a Hokage office, the beast closed his eyes and opened his mind to the free one. The concealed Kurama then felt the wind against his fur and the earth beneath his paws. The seventh would say that the fox was disconnected. If he needed him, he only needed to relax, reach within himself and wake his sleeping friend.

The disconnected state had some benefits for both parts. It gave them a sense of liberty. They liked each other very much, but the extra room was quite welcome : Although, it had never lasted more than a couple of days. As they were happy to be on their own, they needed to be together even more. Kurama simply refused to think about a distant future, without Naruto. This arrangement, nonetheless, was also good when _someone_ needed some kind of privacy.

The seventh would always remember the first time his girlfriend had kissed him : the fox had been yelping furiously. He had had to mentally punch the beast to shut him up.

“What do you think you’re doing, Orange Crush by-product pervert !”

“I’m cheering for you ! The first girl you're getting first base with since Sasuke !”

“SHUT UP MORONIC FOX !”

“YOU SHUT UP ! GO BACK TO SMOOCHING, PRECOCIOUS MAIDEN !”

The blond would’ve answered that as a chakra manufactured being, Kyuubi was forever doomed to lead a virgin's life, but he was not sure if the beast would consider it an insult and he was actually missing out on the action.

After that incident, they had agreed that the fox would disconnect when things would get intimate : Hence Boruto and Himawari.

Being Hokage represented everything of the kind of father he wanted to be : A model of hard work and selflessness, which cared, was compassionate, just and forgiving. He hoped that even if he was not present for his children, the concern he showed everyone in the village would reflect on the way they should act. Because today, as the day before and as any day for that matter, he wasn’t home to make sure the path he chose as a leader would have a positive impact on them. He had occasionally thought of sending a bunshin to be with his kids, but he wanted to be there entirely and not only as a postponed memory. He couldn’t bring himself to do it, but he wasn’t sure that this moral choice was the good one. After all, a duplicate was still a part of him and he would be aware of everything that happened when he reunited. Boruto and Himawari would feel less abandoned and he would surely feel closer to their mother. Not that he didn’t have affection or admiration for her. They simply weren’t together very much, just the two of them. He always left the house very early and came back when she was asleep.

A replicate would still be more than what Sakura and Sarada were getting from the raven. The man was never home. The jinchuuriki wasn’t sure which was the worst : Having an absent father in the village or having an absent father literally being away. Seeing how the Uchiha daughter seemed to be as resentful to her father as his son was towards him, the blond figured that none was best. Those long absences were not Naruto’s doing. The seventh had never given a single order to the black-haired ninja. He wanted Sasuke to be politically considered as an equal, but the elite joonin had always refused. Part of the blond suspected it was out of jealousy.

After their final battle in the Valley of the End, the teen had left on his ‘road to redemption.’ He had told the pink-haired-desperately-in-love-with-him-girl that he would see her soon, but he still made her wait for three years. When he came back, he had gotten rid of the anger, but all the pain he had suffered had left his soul battered. His placid personality was what kept him in check. By not letting his emotions get the better of him, he did not show the worse.

More than fifteen years later, the situation was still the same. The raven would always be a cold-hearted traveler. Sometimes, one of the Uzumaki’s bunshin daydreamed of swapping places with him. The truth was that the Kage envied the black-haired ninja. The latter obstinately came back to the village with the expression he had when he left : the one a blank sheet had. Yet, the Rinnegan bearer still had all the exhilaration of being on the field. He had all the adventures, all the good stories to tell when he came back. Sasuke shared none of it, however. Naruto complemented his most reliable ninja's briefings with details that would’ve made the journey memorable.

“Nothing to report, Hokage-sama.”

Some of those were too succinct even for the seventh’s imagination to add anything.

“You’ve been gone three months. How could there be nothing to say ?”

“Hn…”

The Uzumaki opened one of his drawers. He got an enormous book out. He flipped through the volume, stopping every ten pages or so. The raven opened his mouth.

“Wait ! Sasuke, please wait.”

The blond flipped through a couple more pages and tapped the book with his finger.

“Just as I thought : ‘Hn’ is in all your reports. Now, could I get the specifics or should I investigate this ‘Hn’ myself ? He seems to be quite an obsession on your part.”

The black-haired ninja narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. “In regard of the Kages summit coming soon…”

_Where I’ll wrestle with the fourth Raikage just for the fun of beating the old fart._

“I have been searching for evidence…”

_Of I, Uchiha Sasuke, being a real human being with emotions…_

“… of shinobi’s gathering…”

_… who would feel even the tiniest bit of remorse for killing with one look…_

“… with the intend to attack you on our way there.”

 _You could not even kill me, so who should I fear ?_ “And so, have you found anything of the sort ?”

“No indication of it whatsoever. Only the same flow of people that seem to be migrating to the Fire Country.”

_Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuh !_

The raven sighed, knowing all too well what the seventh was doing.

Since he had returned to the village for good, the Uchiha had not once called Naruto usuratonkachi or dobe. The latter had called the black-haired ninja teme a couple of times, but since his best rival had never retaliated, the blond had simply stopped. He knew, however, that his advisor’s mind was more than often burning with the desire to insult him.

The Sharingan bearer had assigned himself as a spy. The Hokage had never felt the need to surveil other nations, but the elite joonin had never let go of the idea. The seventh firmly believed in the concept of having faith in others, something that Sasuke strongly disagreed with. The jinchuuriki was also convinced that the fact that they contradicted each other on almost everything was their greatest strength. He knew the raven had come to the same conclusion ; even though it had been in spite of himself for a long while.

“So, nothing to report, then.”

“Oh ! I did encounter and disposed of another of _his_ clones.”

“A decade later ?”

The blond flipped through his book and added an annotation. “A third one... How many of those are there ?” Naruto unrolled the message he had received earlier. “We’ll have to show up a bit earlier to the Kages summit.”


	3. Ootsutsuki

They were his. He had been on a journey around the world in search for them. It was a great accomplishment, as a shinobi, for the Aburame clan and the Leaf Village. He had completely gotten rid of the kikaichus with which he had been infused at birth. It had been a delicate operation that had nearly cost him his life. The hundreds of insects had departed his body with the chakra they had ingested, which left him nearly depleted. He imbued himself with a colony of those he had named mazoku[1], in reference to their incredible abilities.

These tiny aphids[2] would find much bigger insects, attack them by surprise and implant their rostrum[3] directly into the supraesophagal ganglion[4] of their prey. Injecting a venomous serum, they took control of their host. As the assailant were minuscule, they were unnoticeable, and so, the victim seemed possessed : hence the name of mazoku. The quarry was used as defense against enemies, to build habitat and ultimately as food. After some time, the poison injected killed the insect by liquefying its organs. The mazokus devoured their prey by sucking the internal fluids. They would be incredible assets, although risky, since they needed a lot of chakra. The user had to find a considerable number of preys to satisfy their appetite.

The entomologist looked at the clock. It was time. He got up and left his house. He walked slowly but set on his goal. He heard puffing and smiled. Akimichi Choji showed up, running. The compulsive snack eater had been assigned captain of the joonins and in that aspect, he was in charge of assigning them tasks inside the village.

“Shino ! Ino-san was up to keep watch at the east tower, but is feeling unwell. Could you take her place ?”

The Aburame nodded.

“Thanks Shino-san, I owe you one.”

The captain left. The mazokus host continued on his way. He had been waiting for this moment for two and a half years. He passed through Unison Square that had been named so after the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War. At its heart stood the Victory Fountain, where five shinobis faced its center, hands joined by the index and middle fingers. The headbands they wore were those of the Allied Ninja Force and engraved on the back of their flak jackets was the symbol of each five great nations. They were surrounding a moon made of marble, which symbolized the sealing of Ootsutsuki Kaguya.

Once the scrolls that Uchiha Sasuke had brought back from her castle[5] had been deciphered, they had learned a great deal about the mother of chakra and her clan. She had written the parchments just after having eaten what humans called the chakra fruit and could feel a humongous evil force overpowering her from inside. She was trying with all her might to fight it, but she knew it would take over at some point. So, she decided to leave a trace of the way of life of her people before losing herself to craziness.

As she informed her readers, her last name, for instance, was more than that. The Ootsutsukis were the inhabitants of the planet Mangetsu. It was also known as the silver moon, a deep coat of snow always covering the petite celestial body, trapping it in eternal winter. Its air was crisp. Its days and nights plunged in the heavy silence only a harrowing cold could carry. Wildlife and flora were non-existent but for one exception.

Jinmenju was a tree that grew by feeding from what had been translated as kiryoku : energy or life force. As Mangetsu was nearly devoid of it, it took many centuries for the tree to grow. As it had matured, it received so little strength from the soil in which it was deeply rooted that it took a thousand years to produce a single fruit : the daburumo. When the fruit was ripe, it bloomed and delivered an Ootsutsuki. Kaguya’s people measured time with cycles : each bloom, counting for one.

Apart from some minor facial and corporeal characterizations, the inhabitants of the silver moon were very much alike. It could not be any different, as they all had the one and only ancestor. Thus, there were no concepts of boundaries, countries, races or families amongst them. They all lived in one diamond-shinning megalopolis : Tsukiakari. Physically, the Ootsutsukis befitted their homeland : their skin, eyes and hair were as white as the snow they were birthed in. They did not feel the cold, their minds were sharp as the icicles harboring Jinmenju and their hearts devoid of feelings, imperceptibly beating, slow motioned in their ribcage.

Her large family had learned to craft snow and ice to built crystal homes. They did not use the houses as shelters. They did not need them to settle down and eat : they did not feed. However, their walls were directly built on the ground, so they could walk barefoot and feel the frozen earth. When their skin touched the soil or anything connected to it, a barely perceptible amount of energy would leave their body. Even the snow and ice with which all of the structures were built absorbed kiryoku. They wore long sleeves robes to avoid being drenched.

This process ensured that they were constantly transferring the knowledge they had gained back to Jinmenju and therefore to the next Ootsutsuki. Their bodies were never depleted. They could produce new life force, as an earthling could produce new blood. As humans, however, too much of it could not be drained at once.

As the perpetually still land, the tree’s children were eternal. Although, they were not immortal. There were two ways for them to meet death : If they were at once emptied of energy or if they became a Moidon : leader of the people.

The tree’s offspring chose instantly and unanimously their ruler. As they did not rely on feelings, they were never divided by perceptions. They simply recognized which one of them was the wisest. Once being designated, the Moidon would proceed to eat the next daburumo, thus absorbing its kyrioku. As the fruits were produced ever so rarely and signified the birth of another Ootsutsuki, eating them was forbidden. It was considered cannibalism and only a newly elected ruler could transgress the law.

The life force contained in the daburumo blessed the Moidon with the Rinne Sharingan and the power to make all of his peers share a vision. As the detached inhabitants of Mangetsu did not fear, did not want for anything ; they did not hope and therefore, did not dream. The third eye would connect the leader to Jinmenju and allow him to share mind with the tree. The progenitor offered images to the ruler who would entrust them to all of his siblings. It united the Ootsutsukis behind a goal, a purpose that had been the same one since the arising of the first Moidon, Shinboku the Wise, up until Kodoma the Bearer : to expand their knowledge and travel peacefully throughout the universe to communicate with other forms of intelligent life.

However, eating the fruit of dreams came with a price : it rendered the leader transient. The ingested daburumo slowly petrified the Moidon, therefore killing him after ten thousand years. Here and there, the statues of the past Moidons stood on Mangetsu, a remembrance of time going by. Their death ensured that no one governed forever and allowed the renewal of the comprehension of the world. A new ruler would be selected, who would then eat the fruit and assimilate what his predecessors had understood and add it to what had been apprehended. It was the Ootsutsuki’s circle of life. It had begun hundreds of millennia ago, with the first of them, Jiyushin, and ended with the birth of Hinoka.

As Kaguya was bloomed into life, the vision changed, however. Jinmenju overflowed the Moidon with visions of leaving, of escaping Mangetsu and its poor life force supply. The progenitor also delivered secrets about abilities and capabilities that were greatly diminished by the desolated planet. Finding a ripe home meant the unleashing of all of their incredible powers : control over the elements, teleportation, levitation, telekinesis, three hundred and sixty degree vision and creation of portals to other dimensions.

One day, the tree started to decay. No matter how much energy the Ootsutsukis gave back, it withered. Many sacrificed themselves to ensure his perrenity. Alas, the roots had drained Mangetsu and no fresh kyrioku was available. The progenitor could not sustain on recycled energy and couldn’t create it contrarily to his children.

On the brink of death, the previous Moidon, Momoshiki the Forbearing, absorbed all of his kin strength as to unlock the ability to open a portal to another dimension. He was able to channel barely enough power to ensure passage for Jinmenju and the newly elected leader, Kaguya the Unique. He sacrificed himself as to convey back all of his energy into the progenitor. The tree and Kaguya landed on Earth, a promising land with an unfathomable amount of life force.

Here, this kyrioku was called chakra and Jinmenju was known as the God Tree. As dreamed, their new home had been thriving. However, Mangetsu had been composed a very neutral form of energy. On this new planet, the tree had access to a very chaotic force : feeding and growing from the blood of war, from death itself. The roots had exclusively absorbed pain, anger and hatred. It had altered the chakra fruit produced which, when consumed by Kaguya, rendered her mad.

            That was the tale the scrolls appeared to deliver, but Shino had discovered the real story encrypted by the guardian.

 

[1] The word _Ma_ can be translated as devil and _Zoku_ can be translated as family.

[2] Any of numerous tiny softbodied insects of the family _Aphididae_ of worldwide distribution. They are also known as plant lice.

[3] The aphid rostrum is the feeding appendage used to access and feed on plant phloem (ndr the mouth).

[4] The brain.

[5] _Boruto : Naruto next generation manga_ , chapter one, _Uzumaki Boruto !_ , p. 52


	4. Oinari and Yahata

At the gates, Naruto signed his jutsu. The bunshin appeared in Kage’s coat and hat.

“You take care of the Leaf for me.”

“I will,” the replicate left solemnly for his office.

It had been something Shikamaru and Sasuke had insisted on. Since the seventh was able to duplicate himself and that nobody, not even the raven with his Rinnegan, was able to tell the difference, they would never make an official statement about him leaving the village. The two advisors had decided long ago that the fewer people were informed of the Kage’s departures, the more he and Konoha would be safe. The blond had none of their fears about a potential attack, but he let them fulfill their role as brains. They had even debated the idea of telling absolutely no one, but had quickly come to the conclusion that they needed to make sure at least one search party stayed in while the Hokage was away, in case anything happened to the latter. And so, if the bunshin disappeared without any explanation, Shikamaru would act as leader of the Leaf and send a team to the rescue.

The Uzumaki and the Uchiha walked towards the guard tower beside the east gate. As they entered, the Aburame got up and bowed. The Rinnegan bearer nodded.

“Eeeeeeeeerrrrr…. Shino, right ?” the jinchuuriki laughed.

The entomologist forced a smile. He had not quite forgotten Naruto for not recognizing him when he came back to Konoha after his training with Jiraya. So now, every time they met, the seventh teased him about it.

The Kage and his advisor went up the tower. The blond opened the window at the end of the corridor. He then unlocked the only door and they both entered. Under their usual attire, they were wearing their ANBU uniforms. The seventh slipped his hand on the wall facing them and opened an invisible panel. Inside was a safe to which only Naruto knew the combination. He put his coat and hat into the strongbox. He took a fresh Kage jacket and the Tsuchikage’s headdress and put them into a satchel. Next, he took out his mask. He put on the pair of gloves that were in one of his pouches. The black-haired ninja put his civilian clothes into the coffer. He closed it and then the panel. He turned around, facing the Uzumaki. They both looked at each other for a moment. It had been years since they had worn those outfits. They said nothing, both faces impassive.

They got out of the room. The jinchuuriki locked the door. He closed his eyes and opened them again. He beamed, an ecstatic smile on his face. He put on his fox mask, dashed through the corridor and jumped out the window. He was no Yellow Flash, but he was going at full speed. Sasuke had no choice but to follow. He put on his raven mask and closed the window behind him.

They ran without ever talking. They were running too fast for it anyway. Part of the Uchiha was relieved by that fact. It had been a long while since he had been on the field with Naruto. Even then, they had never been just the two of them. The ANBU missions were either conducted alone or in a three-shinobis team.

Shikamaru had utterly objected to the seventh traveling by himself and the latter had pointed out that he needed his supposed-to-be-spy at the summit, as he was an invaluable informant about the world outside of the Leaf.

The blond could not get enough of the feeling of the wind on his face, in his hairs and seeing the trees tops flying by. He felt happy, free, carefree. His thighs were burning ; he had not run like that since … since he had become Hokage. It did not matter, he knew he would get accustomed and the feeling would fade away. It felt pathetic to have to endure this kind of pain, as if he was some kid at the academy, but he decided to concentrate on the joy of the run. As the day went by, he got hungry and thirsty, but that too would subside. The raven displayed no evidence of being pushed outside his comfort zone.

Sasuke was mentally cursing Naruto’s bewildering stamina. The jinchuuriki was showing signs of fatigue, as he bore a very concentrated figure and sweated a lot, but he was not slowing. The Uchiha was running with more ease than the Uzumaki, but he would’ve normally rested a bit during the day, or at least halt to eat. They were not teenagers anymore. There was absolutely no rush to get to the destination, since they had a couple of days before the summit. Although, he understood that his friend needed to feel apt and didn’t want to ruin his fun. Furthermore, he would never admit that he wanted a break if his rival didn’t take one.

The seventh disappeared at once. The raven halted. The blond was getting back on the ground, to the east. He followed him. A little further, water was glistening into the sunset. Still running, the Hokage threw his kunais and metal arms guards onto the beach, threw his ninja pouches, and threw his flak jacket and spiked sandals. He took off his mask and put it on the sand with his backpack. He continued running towards the trees that were boarding the west bank. He ran alongside the trunk of a giant fir and once on top, jumped with all his might, diving into the cold lake. He stayed underwater, blowing air out of his mouth, allowing his body to sink lower. All alone, all noise from the outside world cut off, he felt relieved. He was not a Kage, not a father, not a husband, just Naruto. There were no villagers, no Hinata, no Boruto or Himawari here. There was no office, no home, no academy, no school here. There was no one depending on him, here. There was no one needing him, here. There was no one, here.

He swam back to the surface and filled his lungs. He shouted with all his might, the longest and loudest of howling : Everything he had, to get it out of his system. He then let himself float on his back. He closed his eyes and breathed in and out. He didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry, so he did none. Night had fallen as he swam back to shore. Sasuke had come back from the forest with a catch and other delicacies. The Uzumaki cut some wood and lit a fire. He planted one of the branches into the sand in a way that allowed his shirt to dry on it. Naruto washed the roots, mushrooms and berries into the lake. The Uchiha gutted the hare and cooked the meal. They started to eat.

“Why did you even bother to come back ?”

The black-haired ninja was looking intently into the fire, his eyes shinning with dancing flames. He took some time to respond. He looked at the stars and then away into the trees, head turned opposite to the other male. The jinchuuriki took off his pants and put them aside his shirt. He sat back on the sand. The Sharingan user sighed, turned back his head and caught a glimpse of his friend’s skin.

“I wanted to be the kage … so you could be the hoe.”

“Well, I … WHAT?”

The raven smiled, which was the equivalent of the seventh laughing his heart out. The Uzumaki extended eight chakra arms and simultaneously took off the katana from Sasuke’s back, took off his metal arm guard, his spiked sandals, his flak jacket, his mask, took hold of his waist and threw him into the lake. The Hokage was so surprised to have caught his advisor off guard that he couldn’t breathe from laughing. A soaked black-haired ninja came back to the fire.

“Why… Why… Why…” the blond could not form a coherent sentence.

The Rinnegan bearer cut a branch and used it in the same fashion as his jerk Kage. He took his shirt off, wrung it and put it to dry.

“I mean… I never thought I’d be able to pull that !” Naruto choked on some hare.

The raven took off his pants, wrung them and put them beside his shirt.

“Why didn’t you use Susanoo to block me ?”

The Uchiha sat on the other side of the fire. “I can’t use Susanoo.”

“What do you mean ?”

“The tomoes in my Rinnegan faded away.”

“You had to use those powers and didn’t care to report it ?”

“The last time I used them was while fighting the real Orochimaru.”

It had been a little bit over ten years since the raven had killed his former master. It had been a rather anticlimactic event. The white snake had randomly attacked Sasuke outside of the Leaf. Many ANBU had come to assist as did Naruto, but the Sharingan user made it very clear that he would not allow any of them to interfere. Most of Konoha’s elite shinobis had witnessed the pathetic demise of the former grand antagonist. The Uchiha had been practically unmoving, making use of the powers given by Ootsutsuki Hagoromo. The Sannin struck with all of his vile techniques ; many of them involving snakes. He had not been able to lay a hand on his erstwhile pupil. After a while, the Uzumaki had walked to his best friend, put a hand on his shoulder, as to stop him from butchering the remains of an unrecognizable corpse. In the following months, the black-haired ninja had encountered two of Orochimaru’s clones. Elite joonins and the raven himself had investigated the matter, but no clues, no lead whatsoever had ever been found. As no other clone showed for a decade, it had seemed to be all there was to it. A couple of days ago, however, Sasuke had fought another one of them.  

“What then ? How could they have been rendered useless ?”

“I don’t know.”

“You should’ve told me.”

“Why, do you never fail to notify every time Kurama disconnects ?”

“Kyuubi is alive and a sentient being making decisions on his own !”

“As we all are.”

“Alive you are all right, but sentient, I’ve got no proof of that.”

“Hn… Here we are, exactly like when we were sixteen.”

“What ? What is that ? Have I heard anything ?”

“I retract … exactly like when we were thirteen.”

“No really I must be hearing voices, ‘cuz if I’m thirteen, I am alone, here by myself, since someone SIMPLY LEFT, ttebayo !”

“Tteba… ?!” Sasuke snorted. “You know nothing about what happened back then.”

“YOU know nothing about ALL that happened while YOU were away, Sasuke !”

“OINARI !”

“Right ! Code names, Yahata. For what ? To protect us from whom ? Is there anyone around who threatened to destroy Konoha recently ?”

“Shut up, Oinari.”

Naruto could not. He had years of repressed anxiety provoked by the raven that were bubbling up in his throat.

“How about the Kage, the jinchuuriki ? You have information about someone who wants to put an end to him ?”

“Shut. Up.”

“Surely … you would’ve heard of anyone fomenting a revolution, right ?”

“No. I have only heard about one duplicating himself infinitely, still denying his issues for having been alone for so long.”

The seventh launched himself onto the raven. He darted through the fire, jumped to knock him with a knee hit. The black-haired ninja went in with a power angle kick to the head. As to avoid being struck by his opponent, he deviated Naruto’s leg by placing his palm on the blond’s inner thigh. Doing so, he was sent an electrical jolt, taking in that they were both fully naked. The Uchiha stepped back, making sure they would not collide.

“Hokage-sama,” said a petrified raven.

Halting halfway, the jinchuuriki awkwardly landed on Sasuke’s side. They froze, both breathing fast, looking at each other. The Kage did not recognize the look in the black-haired ninja’s eyes at first. When he did, all of his body covered in goose bumps. The advisor quickly turned away. He snatched his clothes, fumbling and cursing while putting them on and left.

Naruto stayed put, not moving, not saying a thing. He had seen this look before. It had never been for him, though. He had seen it a lot in his ANBU years. Any assignment lasting several weeks pressured shinobis. The fear of dying, of leaving friends, family, children behind ; the tension of always being aware of the enemy's presence, the pain of being famished, the confusion that came with sleep deprivation, all of that, made the teams united. The suffering they endured made them strong and linked them closely.

Whomever they were with, there would always be a breaking point, when the filiations became physical. It had nothing to do with love or cheating or really wanting to be with the other one. It was stress relief and people needing to feel alive and warm inside. All of that had become very clear to the blond the first time he was assigned with two other ANBU married males with kids. Neither of them had demonstrated any kind of interest into each other and they had never shown any after that.

It mostly always began with an argument that led to a fight that led to sex. The wrestles were weird, full of scratches and bites. Over the years, the jinchuuriki had noticed that the shinobis who felt powerless over the events would _win_ the brawl and be the dominant part. Those who mastered the situations would _lose_ and submit to the other. It had nothing to do with their strength. He had seen stronger being overpowered by weaker. Those who took control gained the confidence much needed to continue on. Those who lost it were set free of the weight of the mission on their shoulders.

Some stubborn ones, those with the most self-restraint, seemed, at first, non-willing to have intercourse. They acted surprised by the turn of events, even refused to take part in it. The fight would then get gruesome, and both shinobis would be badly hurt. The first times it had happened, the Uzumaki had intervened. He had soon realized, however, that the scene repeated itself over and over until they would be done with it. There was a part of some ninjas that didn’t want to admit they were in a fragile state, that they needed to feel close to someone, that they could not keep going on without assuming that a part of them was human. Those would remind the blond of Zubuza and Haku, who considered themselves as tools without feelings. Those were the ones who needed the other the most. To Naruto, the way they wanted to deny what they needed desperately was sad. In the end, they broke the last barrier preventing them from opening up and gave themselves. The sex that followed was less ferocious.

In some cases, the oldest of shinobis, the ones with most experience, would not even seem to be thinking about it. They just knew. Without a word, they disappeared.

For this part of being an ANBU, the blond was happy that the sixth Hokage had waited for him to be more mature before making him a member : The reality of human beings that were put under a lot of pressure was a rough one.

Although, he had never felt the urge to possess one of his teammates. He had realized that the presence of Kurama was not only keeping him warm, but was also a constant reminder that he was alive and well. As for never being subjected to anybody’s desire, he had been dumbfounded for a while about it. He had come to understand that he was unapproachable. Ever since he had defeated Pain, he had been considered a hero and after Kaguya and the infinite Tsukuyomi, people saw him nearly as a godlike figure. Even though he was friendly and outgoing, others looked at him differently. The hate that had engulfed his childhood had transformed into a kind of veneration. Both ways, it made him feel divergent.

But just now, in the Uchiha’s eyes, he saw that look. The burning desire ; the one that made him uncomfortable when displayed by his peers. That piercing gaze, full of hunger, of anger, of desires unfulfilled. The seventh had been struck by the ferocity of the black-haired ninja’s eyes. He felt quite intimidated by it and also very much confused. Hadn’t Sasuke been home with Sakura for the last couple of days ?

Analyzing the situation, Naruto noticed that Kyuubi had not once made a snarky remark. The fox had disconnected : No doubt he had the impression that things had been getting intimate. He would be hearing about that for the rest of his life.

The Kage put on his clothes and sat down near the fire. He decided that whatever the reason, the wife and husband didn’t get a chance at love, so tonight, the black-haired ninja having been gone for a long time … his unresolved needs towards the pink-haired woman had been transferred onto him. There was nothing more to it.

Except that nobody had ever landed such a look on him. Hinata was a very sweet and gentle lover. She smiled, as she always did, took her husband by the hand and brought him into the bedroom. Lying down, she closed her eyes and breathed into his ear.

The blond had no choice but to admit that the carnal way the raven had gazed at him was very disturbing. He was hot all over.


	5. Deranged boy

They were out in the streets, at night. On the ground laid a little boy, thrashing or convulsing, it was hard to tell. He was screaming with all his might. He didn’t seem to know if he was sad or angry. Heavy tears streaked his face, his fingernails bloodied from digging into the ground. He seemed to be saying something, over and over, but there was nothing to hear. The only sound was a mind oppressing humming. It took some time, but people started to show up. It was unsettling how they only noticed the crazy yelling kid. They went on their knees, holding him by arms and legs. He seemed demented. He scratched, bit, kicked and tore hairs. The well-behaved child standing beside them, they did not care about.

The cause may have been superpowers. That would explain why everything was going in slow motion. Or was it a ghost story perhaps ? There was a possibility that a phantom could not hear what the living said. Death was nothing to brag about, so the main theory was of an interdimensional traveler whom would eventually uncover fantastic abilities.

They lifted the boy and carried him away. The young adventurer followed them, certain that a great destiny was tied to the demonic child. They brought him to the hospital. The invisible hero giggled as the boy looked like a slippery fish into the grownups hands. They put him under restraints, but that did not stop him from shrieking. It was strangely unnerving, as there was no audio on the image. A nurse was soothing him, caressing his black-jet hair. They gave him a shot of whatever he needed to calm down.

A strange sensation traveled through the undetected child. The evil spawn transformed into a mellow blob, his screams becoming mutters. They had to be linked, as the undetected kid felt lightheaded and started to speak in unison with the deranged boy.

“Ani-chan killed them all. He killed them all. Ani-chan…”

They were still unaware of the other child in the room. It would take a long time before they would comprehend that she was never where they sought her. Her presence faltered, she was snatched back.

That was her first out of body experience.

 


	6. Right on time

It was the middle of the night. Lee was walking towards him to take his place.

“Youth !” Said the green jumpsuit man that offended even Shino’s fashion taste.

The Aburame smiled and left. He went around the stone tower and climbed the back of it up to the top. The colony of Formosan subterranean termites he had put there had eaten enough of the roof so he could slip in. He sneaked in and landed quietly directly in front of the hidden panel that he slid open. He extended his left palm for his little six-legged spy to lodge gently onto it. He put his right hand on the dial of the safe. The firefly’s abdomen illuminated once. He spun the mechanism to the left over and over and stopped on the first digit. The insect lightened up twice. Shino spun it to the right thrice and set it on the second digit. The bug blinked three times. He spun twice the dial to the left and set it on the third digit. He spun it to the right, passing zero, opening the strongbox.

“One, two, three. What a retard.”

He took out the Kage’s coat and hat and put them on. He jumped out of the room the same way he went in. He slowly began to walk along the dark streets of Konoha, making sure not to stand directly under the street lights and to incline his head to salute the passersby. His heart and breathing were steady, even though this part of his plan was tricky. He had thought about sneaking in, but it could not be done into that house. There was always at least an ANBU near and anyone approaching would be followed. He had thought going in as Shino, but didn’t want to be considered as a guest and Hinata waking up the kids. The less witnesses the better. He could get rid of the children, but he would have to take care of the mother first and the chances he could dispose of them three without a sound were null. He had thought about concealing his venue up to two or three blocks before the house, but the Kage’s hat was impossible to hide. It would’ve taken an enormous bag that would’ve looked suspicious.

He knew that the Hokage’s bunshin was in his office and that most people were home. He had come to know which avenues were the least crowded. It was quite a detour to follow those empty alleys. It took him thrice the time it normally would if he had gone through downtown. Still, all it took was a single person who would desperately want to talk to him. He didn’t want to have to hide a corpse. A missing person would be a formidable flaw in his plan. It was dark though, a villager would probably be fooled, but it wouldn’t work on any joonin or chuunin. The risk was, however, minimal. If there was an emergency, shinobis would go to the seventh’s office.

His patience was well rewarded, as he walked undisturbed all the way from the eastern guard tower to the front porch of the house. Quietly, he opened the door and stepped in. On a hook hung a light coat that belonged to Hinata. He plunged his face into it as to immerse the colony of insects of her scent. One by one, in a single file, the mazokus left his body by both ears. It would be a long process, so he sat on the couch that rested against the living room window. This way, the ANBU spy keeping watch on the house could see the back of him. The fact that there were two Naruto in town did not matter, as they were well aware of their Hokage’s likeliness to actually be in several places at the same time. There was a book on the table beside him, he took it, opened it and pretended to read.

It took only a couple of minutes for the main corridor to be swarming with the little bugs. The first ones to get to Hinata bite her as to anesthetize the skin of her cheeks and ears, so the thousands of bugs getting in would not tickle her. They crawled into her ears and easily took control of her brain as she was sleeping. It took about ten minutes, before he heard movements. Shortly afterwards, the Hyuuga girl showed up into the living room in her nightdress. Her eyes were wide with shock and her whole body was trembling. The insects were not in full control yet. They were so tiny and she was a formidable prey. She was showing a tremendous will to fight. But as she had harshly learned in life : will was not everything. Shino smiled and gestured her to sit next to him. Step by step she awkwardly walked towards him. She may have looked like she was handicapped or in great pain, but from where she was standing, nobody but him could see her. She sat down, he caressed her hair, as to show love and gentleness to the outside world.

“Don’t worry, the kids are safe.”

Big round tears slid down her cheeks.

The next morning, after the children had departed for school, Hinata went straight to her sister’s house. Shino was hidden outside, nearby, as he needed to stay within a certain perimeter to keep the insects under his control. He had said that as soon as he would sever the chakra flow between him and the bugs, they would start devouring her from inside. She could still feel, hear and see everything. She wanted to scream, but she was in no control of her actions or her words. She was a trapped spectator of her own being. The part of her mind where she was cornered was racing and not thinking clearly. She ought to feel nauseated, but since her body didn’t react in any way to what she was thinking, she felt strangely calm. It was absolutely terrifying and she didn’t know if she could endure that kind of stress for long before going mentally unstable.

He had stated that the children would be safe with her sister and that he had no immediate need for them to be in danger. That had been a terrorizing and not subtle at all threat. He had told her all about the first part of his plan last night. Still, she was relieved to see that for now, everything was going the way he had said it would. She had asked Lady Hanabi to look over her son and daughter for a couple of days, while she attended the Kages summit to be with the man she loved.

She walked quickly and with conviction to the seventh’s office. Shino was following her, walking down the next street. When she was about to be seen by the ANBU guarding the Hokage’s door, she composed herself : slowing down her pace and displaying the shy, quiet and sweet figure. The guard didn’t show any of the astonishment he felt seeing her there. Unless she had been summoned, she had never come to talk to her husband when he was in his office. He retreated against the wall and bowed.

“Hokage-sama,” her angelic voice said.

“Hinata !” The replicate got up and walked over to his wife while she talked to him.

“I know you never come home as a bunshin, but I still wanted you to know that the children and I will be at my sister’s, Lady Hanabi. We will probably stay there until you return home. The real you, I mean.”

“I understand.”

“It… It is mesmerizing how it feels like it is really you.”

“Well… even though I am only…”

She interrupted him with a gentle kiss. “I am sorry, I could not resist, Hokage-sama. I miss you so much. We miss you.”

The duplicate blushed. Hinata bowed and left. She walked in the direction of her sister’s house, as to not raise any suspicions. As soon as she was far enough, she jumped against a building’s wall and back flipped to the roof of another. She started sprinting at full speed. She was in a hurry, or more accurately, Shino was. He was racing through the streets, so they would not be seen running together. He jumped over the wall surrounding the village. She went through the northern gate and kept running, disappearing in the forest. The mazokus master was fifty meters ahead.

What had triggered the Aburame’s behavior ? She and all her friends in Konoha had known him since kindergarten. They had been on the same team for all of their childhood and teenage years. They fought alongside all of their lives. The entomologist had proven to be calm, stoic and matter-o-factly. He kept mostly to himself, but he had never let anyone down. He had always been a loyal friend. Even now, he was an instructor at the academy and carefully saw to the success of the next generation. The Aburame clan was one of the oldest in the village. They were secretive about their insects’ skills, but the Hyuuga clan was even more protective of their Byakugan. Every clan had the right to see that their family’s gifts would be kept within the bounds of the bloodline.

What would’ve made him perpetrate such an unbelievable treason ?

She had absolutely no idea what was about to happen. Shino had made sure she would disappear from the village without anyone getting suspicious. He was obviously aware that the Hokage’s bunshin never left its office. He also knew that Naruto would’ve not let Hinata join him at the Kage summit : Hence the lie. What she did not understand, however, was where they were really going. The eastern gate would’ve led them to the meeting. They weren’t even following any route she knew of. Unless the Aburame was sending them to sneak on the Hidden Sound Village or the Hidden Waterfalls Village, explaining why he was hiding their venue.

Running into the wild, not knowing when they would stop or what would happen when they got there, would’ve made her panic, if she was still inhabiting her body. Shino was not careful about the way the insects made her traveled through the forest. Hinata’s face, arms and legs were covered with bruises and scratches. If the entomologist didn’t care if she got injured, it maybe meant that whatever happened to her did not matter. It could be that she was disposable and that he would discard her eventually. It made her worry. And so was the fact that he seemed to be furiously scratching his face off. That was scary.

The forest was clearing right ahead. The daylight was a brilliant wall hiding whatever there was to see at the edge of the forest. The Aburame disappeared into the light. A couple of seconds later, as she set foot outside of the forest, her body jumped. She lunged herself into the sky and began falling. She had jumped over a cliff and was now falling into a ravine. The insects made her look down. They focused on a miraculous bough, which Shino was sitting on, waiting for her. She caught it. She would’ve grimaced, as she was sure she had just sprained both her shoulders. The shock had been great and it had been a while since she had made use of that kind of strength. Using the speed of the fall, she spun around the branch and landed on it.

“We are right on time, Hinata !”

She looked up at Shino and felt her inner self faint, but she only nodded.

 


	7. An old friend

They were two days early on the Kages meeting. The summit was taking place in a different Inn every time. Naruto was in the backyard’s garden, by the pond, eyes closed listening to the drizzle. Usually, Sasuke would brief the seventh with his knowledge of the world. There was never anything new that the raven hadn’t already reported. However, the Leaf always swarmed the blond’s head and he had to be reminded that there actually was an outside reality. He was dealing with it on paper, but not so much in person.

The Uchiha had not even looked at his Kage since the lake incident, so there would be no such preamble. As soon as they arrived to destination, the black-haired ninja flee the scene. So, Naruto was waiting, alone. He hated that and disliked it even more since Kurama had not returned yet. He had a pouty face even though there was no one to show it too. He was chewing his inside cheeks, fighting not to summon bunshins so he could play cards with them. Sasuke’s snarky comment about his loneliness issues had pissed him off. It had not been the first time that his best rival mentioned it, but the child and teenage Uzumaki could’ve not have cared less. He had been solely focused on his Hokage goal and the kage bunshin no jutsu had been a grand symbol of his capability to achieve it.

The first time he had accomplished it, he had seen how Iruka-sensei had been impressed. It had made him an acknowledged ninja and it had become his trademark. It was true, however, that over the years the tool had become a way of life. As a teen, he would create replicates at home and he would fight with them, because they all wanted to train and none would volunteer for laundry and cooking. Thank goodness for Hinata – not that she had been assigned his house chores – but he had reached a point where living with his duplicates was on the verge of making him very depressed and low esteemed.

It had surprised him at first to realize it. He had always been an optimistic fighter. Against rejection, he rose up by talking louder and being even cockier. However, living with multiple fragments of himself calling him “baka-baka-baka” all night long left him to feel a level of stupid multiply by the number of bunshins he had created. There were no harsher judges.

Sasuke was right : Naruto had been using them to sooth his bitter loneliness, but it was still just plain mean to throw it in his face. After all, the Kage would not remind the raven that he had been fleeing the village for most of his life because he was too much a coward to open up to others. No, he had done worst : he had been using his friend’s teen years to get back at him. _So very mature._ So much had happened back then. They probably needed to talk about it. Many years had gone by and it had become a taboo subject. He didn’t know how to approach it now.

Back then, he thought that being the strongest ninja was all about the ninshuu. But it was not. To endure is, at first, to find the physical strength to go through life’s obstacles. And then, as you grow older, it is to find the inner strength to keep balance with the emotional counterpart. He found it harder and harder to remain the same candid individual when he was thinking about all he had done to protect everyone. Every time the Uchiha would leave the village, he would tense and be reminded of the numerous times he pursued him. Deep down, he felt like he wanted to chain the raven to the Leaf. However, the black-haired ninja would not stay, no matter how much it had cost the blond to bring him back.

“Uzumaki Naruto-san, Konohagakure’s nanadaime Hokage.”

The seventh turned around, smiling. “Gaara-san, Sunagakure’s godaime Kazekage.”

They embraced each other.

“How is your brother, Kankuro-san doing ?”

“Quite good actually. His peers have officially recognized him as an expert.”

“Have you been pulling strings ?”

“No need. He is the master of puppets.”

Naruto chortled.

“It makes you laugh every time.”

“It does.”

It was a silly pun that had started as a code their mutual advisors had decided they needed, since the two Kages met without anyone else. This time, the man of the Sand had written to him, asking he’d come a day earlier to the summit so they could have a chat.

“So, friend, you wanted to talk.”

The redhead looked around, making sure nobody was listening. It demonstrated that Gaara was anxious and it made Naruto uneasy. The Kazekage closed his eyes and opened them again. He changed stance and seemed to relax and even became cheerful.

“Hey there, stupid fox !”

The Hokage stepped back, shocked. He closed his eyes and infused nature energy to enter his sage mode. He opened his eyes again. There it was : All over his friend, Ichibi’s enormous chakra.

“Shukaku ?”

“My esteemed self.”

The seventh froze. He looked intently at the redhead without seeing him. “Whaaaaaaaaaa… why ? I mean, how ? What ? What happened ?”

“So I could beat your sorry stinkin’ ass once and for all, punk !”

“You... sorry ?”

“Not you brat. I’m talking to Her Majesty’s fur collar !”

The blond’s teeth clenched. Kurama was still disconnected. Nobody but him and his two closest advisors knew about the fox’s free other half. He closed his eyes and reached within himself. The fox was a grand red ball of fur, using all of his nine tails to cover his body. When the beast was like that, Naruto walked around his friend while talking to him, never staying still, because he never knew if he was facing the head or the ass.

“Hey chum... Shukaku wants to say hi... in person..."

Not a single red hair moved. Was Kyuubi mad because of what happened with the raven ? Did he think that Naruto had cheated on Hinata ? Kurama loved his wife. Nothing had happened, but the fox didn’t know that.

“Look... I know it may have looked misleading, but nothing happened with Sasuke. He was very angry with himself about it and sure enough he seems ashamed, as he won't talk to me. So, forget about it and we can meet with our other friend like civilized peo... like... civilized... just say hello, will you ?”

There was no change in the beast stance. The blond snapped his fingers.

“Haven't you finished your nap, princess ?”

Still no answer whatsoever. It struck the seventh as being absolutely out of character, but he had no time to solve the puzzle. He had to resurfaced and talk to the racoon himself.

“Hum… Kyuubi says hi.”

“Dafuq ? Let the navel of Naruto talk.”

The Hokage rubbed the back of his head. He did not like to lie and was not very good at it, but he knew all about the relationship of the one and nine tails. He answered, staring at his feet, seeming embarrassed, not having to look at his interlocutor.

“He… he says he has no time to waste on the Ichibi.”

Shukaku shrieked. He seemed about to jump the blond, then halted, sighed, closed his eyes and opened them back.

“Sorry seventh, the racoon has not changed one bit… neither the fox it seems.”

Naruto was speechless.

“How does it feel to be his host ?” asked the Kazekage.

“What ? What does it have to do…”

“Just answer the question, friend.”

“I don’t know. He’s been with me all my life. It feels… normal.”

“Exactly. Kurama was sealed within you when you were a newborn. Shukaku was sealed by Chiyo-baasama within me as I was still in my mother’s womb. Before the Akatsuki, I had never known any other way than being with Ichibi…”

“What are you saying ?”

“That Shukaku being extracted felt like a void, a bottomless pit.”

Gaara looked away, into the pond. There was sound but the soft splattering of the rain. Naruto knew about that feeling. At that precise moment, he was feeling awkwardly empty, as it had been a couple of days since the fox had disconnected. He suddenly realized that he had never been away for so long.

“At first, I thought it would subside. It never did and became a dull ache. I never said anything about it, because Shukaku had been cursing humans all of my existence, so I thought he was better off into the wild.”

“Was he not ?”

“Well, he told me that at first, after the Fourth Shinobi World War, he enjoyed the freedom. He had been sealed into three jinchuurikis without ever tasting liberty. However… he said that being sealed into an unborn child, growing inside a mother… gave us a very special link. As if twins I suppose.”

“But it has been over fifteen years since he was extracted from you.”

“It appears that since he had tormented me into insomnia for half my life, he also presumed that I was better off without him.”

“Then how did you get to be his host again ?”

“We met in the desert. He offered to lend me his powers to assure the protection of Sunakurage. I declined. He became enraged. I explained that the five Kages had agreed not to seal juubis anymore and not to create jinchuurikis ever again. He shrieked and threatened to destroy the village. I pointed out that it was quite inconsequential to blackmail me with Sunakurage annihilation when he had just proposed to use his powers to protect it. As he was about to bury me with every grain of the desert’s sand, I admitted that even though I had refused his offer, it made me happy, because I missed him.”

The redhead closed his eyes, letting Shukaku continue for him. “We agreed that I would not be sealed and that he would not use my powers. In that way, he would not be a jinchuuriki and simply… a home.”

The blond perfectly understood. He could picture Sasuke “Hn” and Shikamaru taking his brainiac pose, but could not hear what they would say. That part of his Kage self, influenced by his counselors, thought that he ought to object, to find a reasonably good point that would make him disagree, but he could not. He had always trusted people and, furthermore, a personal friend. Gaara had been Kazekage for more than two decades now. He was one of the wisest and down-to-earth people he knew. He was also suffering from loneliness. A Kage title was hard to bear, heavier with a family, but harsher without one. Being rejected by your own village left some scars, but they had healed. Being subjected to your father’s repeated plans to be assassinated, believing that your own mother had cursed and hated you and living as a total psychopath for half your life… were not things you really came back from. It was in itself a kind of miracle that he had turned into this composed figure. He had even been able to rebuild a relationship with his siblings and create bonds with others.

The redhead knew about caring, knew about empathy, knew about patience and forgiveness, but his soul had been torn to shreds. Even though he had sowed it back together, Naruto wasn’t sure the fabric was strong enough to let the Kazekage fall in love. The safety net had to be strong enough not to let yourself crash to your death if the parachute didn’t hold. Even though Suna’s council had pressured Gaara into getting married, the Uzumaki mostly thought that his friend was the most sensible in staying single. Contrarily to the seventh, he was not inflicting pain to the ones he loved most.

The blond would’ve not have had it any other way. There had never been any doubts about having a family. He never regretted it and he was thankful for his children. They had made him such a better person, more mature, more patient and less self-involved. But the man from the Sand had already been like that since he was fifteen. There he was, today, telling him that he had felt unhappy without Shukaku and that it had been the same for the bijuu. Who was he to tell them it was wrong ? The blond put a hand on the redhead’s shoulder and with the other, he lifted his index in a sign of warning.

“The last time we were together both as jinchuurikis… I seriously kicked your ass.”

Everything was still for a second, then both men laughed.

“That is what you have to say about it ?”

“I have nothing to say about it. I’m just glad you told me, as a friend.”

Gaara exhaled. “I am so thankful.”

“Don’t be. What did you expect ?”

“… I… I worry about the Mizukage and Tsuchikage.”

“What about them ?”

“They might not take it as lightly as you.”

“Why not ?”

“Well… As you clearly are the strongest amongst us and that your right-hand man is probably the only ninja alive who could take you on… that you are a jinchuuriki and that we have been friends since before the Fourth War…that another of your friend is Kumogakure’s Killer B, the other and last of living jinchuuriki…”

“My dream was to make every shinobi cooperate. We have achieved that. Why would I destroy it ?”

“You are right. It was your dream. Not theirs. You rallied them with sheer will.”

“Nothing like a foxy babe to unite everybody.”

Gaara’s mouth became a thin hard line. “You know that’s an objectifying adjective that some men use to describe a certain type of women ?”

“Well... I am inhabited by a fox and… have you ever seen my sexy no jutsu ?”

Gaara’s eyes widen. “No… And I don’t intend to.”

Naruto snorted.

“OK.” The Kazekage shook his head as if getting rid of unwanted images. “The Mizukage and Tsuchikage might think that old friends have united their jinchuuriki’s strength to overcome them and take control over their nations.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. They’ve always known Killer B and me as jinchuurikis. Why would things be any different now because you’ve reassumed that role ?”

“Because, before, there were more villages without tailed beast's powers than the opposite. Today, they are outnumbered and thus, might feel threatened.”

That was it. That was what Sasuke and Shikamaru would’ve said upon hearing about Gaara hosting Shukaku.

“We’ll explain it to them, then.”

 


	8. On the verge of ecstasy

Someone was calling him. He didn’t know who and what was said. He was trying very hard to listen, but the sound was faint. Although, he had the impression that it was getting closer. He responded, but the other one just kept calling him. The voice was high pitched and would repeat the same thing over and over again. He could not figure out what it was though. It was getting frustrating, as the person was getting louder and louder and started screaming. He woke up. A machine was beeping aside him. He opened his eyes. Everything was a blur. He closed them back. He could not form a coherent idea, his mind entirely sluggish. He breathed and exhaled for a minute or so. He opened his eyes again. It was dark around him. He raised his right hand ; he had an intravenous line in his wrist. As his eyes were getting accustomed, he realized that he was thirsty and had a very sticky mouth. The alarm kept piercing his eardrum ; he wanted to shut it down but could not see how. On top of the machine, he saw a glass full of water. Not caring a bit about who put it there, he went for it. He could not summon himself to get up, so he drank the lukewarm water lying down. Most of it got all over his chin, throat and chest. He dropped the glass that broke against the hard floor. He was unconscious again.

His dreams were altered by the activated link he had with the other one. It was a peculiar experience, as if watching a muted television show. The decor was blurry, green walls surrounding the peripheral vision. Someone was racing, deep into the forest, not following any paths. The runner avoided trees and the many obstacles of the wild at the very last moment. As the sight was only focused on straight ahead, he assumed that the one sprinting was not going anywhere. He was not looking back, so none pursued him. The sole objective appeared to gain speed. _Fleeing your own train of thoughts, kiddo ?_

The angle of view spun to the ground, where it disappeared in a grand splash of mud. _Did you fall, little bird ?_ For a brief moment, there was nothing to see but hairs dripping and an arm covered in brown waters. Pushing himself up, he offered the watcher a view of the forest shimmering with light rain, before branches, grass, rocks, soil, everything was sent flying. One seemed to be throwing a fit. It made the spectator giggle. _Is it a tantrum ?_ At some point, he understood that the protagonist of his visions was hitting his forehead over and over again on a trunk until a trace of blood was left. _My, oh my, so much drama. Where’s the pop corn ?_

His mind followed the man going down on his knees, looking at the bark of a tree. A patch of dark clouded firmament appeared and then everything went dark. _Do you need to calm down a bit ?_ _What has happened for you to get this mad munchkin ?_ _You are such a klutz when it comes to feelings, aren’t you ? …. Come on… Come on now… Open your eyes, you pathetic emo ! You are boring as… OH HOOOOO !_

The incursion back into the parallel reality took his sight on the lower body : A brisk hand taking down pants and underwear and unceremoniously clutching the engorged member. _Well, we are in for a treat, aren’t we ?_ The next minute was a weird mix of savage pumping, darkness, trees, pitch-black, sky and nothingness.

He was amused by the display. He was not animated by a lot of emotions. He had some obsessions that made him feel very good, but sexuality was not one of them. The body always responded at some point, but it was completely disconnected from him, from his mind. If not stimulated, he felt no appeal, no desire, no interest. A part of him wished he had sexual impulse as it seemed to resolve many internal conflicts, but he also had none of them. Coitus was a tool to hurt others. That allowed him to obtain much pleasure.

He enjoyed playing with the mind, but was dumbfounded by the fact that human mental health could be impacted by what happened to its body. Himself was trapped in an abstract world where his intellect reigned and had severed the bond of physical interactions. He felt pain, but received it as a signal, a message warning him that going further could mean severe injury or death, but he did not sense the discomfort or torment others were subjected to. That he wished he could feel.

It felt within his grasp when their eyes were wide, searching for air, grunting for life, fighting with desperate strength, pleading for mercy, hurling the deny of their fate. He could taste it, inhale it, toss it between his fingers. He squeezed it out, gutted it out, cracked it open, but it would dissipate with their last breath. At that precise moment, he was the nearest he could get to agonizing : when on the verge of ecstasy he was denied what he sought. He was haloed with serene pleasure for some time before his brain took him back into the placid fortress and he would have to do it all over again.

The first people he had murdered were his immediate relatives. It had been messy, miscalculated, forever blissed as a memory : a turning point that had happened in a swift engulfing lash out. His little sister had dropped a tumbler of water on the kitchen floor. She had been what they were calling an undersized monster. Little did they know he was the actual one. She had been a toddler, only interested in serving her needs. In that, he had thought of her as the most interesting member of his family. She had tiptoed out of the room, nervous and excited about the mess and had sought a hiding spot shrilling.

His first reaction had been to clean up after her, bringing the trash can beside the debris. He had thrown away the tiny shards of glass until he picked a long one shaped like a blade. He had pierced his left palm with it and kept pushing until the fragment had gone through the other side. His hand had been twitching uncontrollably and the pouring blood was sliding down his forearm. He had heard a scream. He had turned his head around. His mother had been standing in the doorframe, livid. She had hurried to his side. She had taken the wrist of his injured hand, transfixed by the wound. The look on her face had been fascinating. Her eyes had been bulging ; her nostrils wide open and the muscles around her mouth contorted.

“Come on darling, we need to get to the hospital.”

He had put his other hand on her cheek. “Mother… mother, look at me.”

She had gazed into her son’s eyes. He had smiled at her. He had pulled the piece of glass out of his palm and planted it into her jugular vein. She had gasped for air ; he had taken the splinter out and stabbed her again in the neck, blood spurting from the first gash. As she had slowly went to the ground, producing a marveling gurgling, he did not let go of her gaze. It had mirrored distress and incredulity. With two of his fingers he had delicately got out the killing shard, wanting to see the blood flow. He had lied down next to his first victim, chin resting on his good hand, living in the moment. 

“Mommy ?”

He had not budged. He had not wanted to miss the instant she would die. The young child had come beside them, went on her knees and twisted her neck, putting her face upside down to look at her mother, her head hiding her brother’s view. He had pushed her away. She had wailed and started kicking. She had hit him straight into the nose twice. He had growled impatiently. He had extended his arm to catch her, but she escaped, running outside of the room, in the family garden. He had pursued the wee girl up to the artificial pound into which he threw her. He had come back to the house, but his mother had passed away. He had missed it. A fury had risen and washed over him, breaking the boy he had been.

His father had been a well-known drunk amongst the villagers. He had been drowning his sorrow ever since the suicide of his oldest son. The second son had been the one to find his brother hanging in the shower : his face red and swollen, his mouth opened searching for air, his feet and hands wiggling. Watching his ani-chan die had nearly been the most beautiful experience in his life : A marvelous painting, which had been unfortunately stained. At the last moment, the body had turned away, into the sunlight of the window. The last spark of life had departed with no witness, leaving the otouto clinging to his expectations. Their father had found his youngest son standing there, doing nothing. Ever since, he had been holding him responsible for the first-born's death.

When he had came home that night, wobbling and moaning his wife's name, the son handed his dad the killing weapon, so his fingerprints would be over the glass blade. He had called the drunken man names, so he would get angry and ran after him. He had dashed into the kitchen, followed by his paternal. His father had slipped over the crimson pool and fell over the corpse of his mother. He had gotten up and chased his child into the garden, out into the streets, yelling, covered in blood, holding a sharp object. It didn’t take much for the man to be accused and convicted of both murders.

The story : ‘Dad was angry. He was fighting with mom. I heard screaming and when I got to the kitchen, mommy was alone on the floor. I wanted to help her, so I took out the shard of glass of her neck. My sister was crying outside, but I did not see her. She went silent after a big splash. Dad came back into the house, bloody and mad. I ran because I was so afraid.’ He had added tears, tremors and shrieking : he was a talented actor.

When he woke up this time, his head was very much clearer. He shut down the device beside him. He sat. He took out the intravenous line and the catheter. He got up, his feet crushing the dead skin scattered on the floor. He had seated a bit soon and too fast. He got dizzy and took hold of the operating table on which he had been lying. He scrubbed the nails that had stuck on the sole of his feet. He went for the light switch on the wall, trying to get to know how to breathe. It would take a couple of hours before getting the knacks of this self. After a couple of days, he would be accustomed. At few weeks were ncessary for him to be himself again. Right now, everything felt alien. The light reflecting in his eyes was strong, even though the room was dark. The way he held things in his hands was estranged. The movements of his body were awkward. He felt like he was drunk. He flicked the lights on, filling the room with a buzzing sound. He growled. Neon lights were an annoyance after having been out for a couple of days. He walked to the mirror. He did not look right away. He wanted his eyes to be accustomed to the brightness. The colors were off, everything seemed gaudy in comparison to what he remembered. He lifted his head and opened his eyes. He laughed. He laughed long and hard with satisfaction.

He went to the stool beside the operating table and put on the clothes he had left there. He got out the room. He could hear Hinata whining. She would not last long. She had been a host to the mazokus for quite some time. They would have to act quickly. He entered the storage room and grabbed a satchel. He walked to the locker to snatch the Kage coat and hat and put them in the bag. He opened the refrigerator and got a phial. He took a rope and a kunai to which was attached a talisman in the cabinet. He withdrew a scroll from one of his drawers. He was ready for his prisoner.

The peasant was asleep in his cell. There was not much else for him to do. He had been fed, had had to drink and could wash. He needed the farmer to be in perfect condition for the jutsu. The commoner had been crying and screaming at first, many years ago, saying they needed him on the farm that he was a husband, a father, that he had no money, but would give anything to get back to his family. He had always answered that he would never let him go. Hope was a dangerous thing and there was none for him here. He entered the cell quietly and worked on tying him up. He began with the feet. The man woke up, gasped and tensed. He was paralyzed by fear long enough for him to tie his hands. The prisoner then began to wriggle and plead for mercy.

“Hush, hush, now. It’ll be over soon.”

He opened the phial containing blood and unrolled the scroll. With his thumb he smeared the red fluid on the paper. He put the parchment and hands on the ground. “Edo tensei no jutsu.”

A seal expanded from his palms to the peasant, surrounding the latter. The farmer’s body was shaking, too afraid to make a sound. When the ashes taking over him started to spread, he became quite vocal. It only lasted a couple of seconds before he was overtaken, and thus found death. He got up and went to the reanimated corpse and pierced its nape with the kunai. The body jolted, but nothing more. He untied the reincarnate.

“Let’s take back control over the mazokus.”

They got out of the cell, to the other side of the corridor. In her room, Hinata was on the floor, on her knees, hands holding her head, her body bent over. She was shaking and emitting a long harrowed cry, interrupted by harsh breathing. Shino held up his hands and slowly, the Hokage’s wife calmed down. She wiped her sweating forehead. They waited until she showed no more signs of distress.

“OK kids, grab your seats, the big show is about to begin.”

 


	9. The harvest

Momoshiki had adopted a meditation stance, naked, seated directly on the ground of his house, his back and both palms in contact with the walls. His skin was tingling, life force leaving his body. He looked up the window, Jinmenju stood on the border of the precipice, its smaller branches broken and scattered around. The trunk was ravaged by profound gashes, some deep enough to reveal the dry core. A third of the Ootsutsukis had met death giving back to the tree. The progenitor never showed any signs of improvement and only further decayed. The scorching wind seemed to carry its long whine.

When Kodoma the Bearer, the previous Moidon, had passed away, Momoshiki had been appointed as the new leader of the people. Even though he had been acknowledged, he could not establish the connection with the ancestor as to keep on dreaming. It had been more than ten cycles since the tree had gotten a daburumo to bloom. In the last centuries, the progenitor, however, had been producing four shells in which fruits matured. It was a never before seen feature. Jinmenju had never created more than one daburumo at a time. Anyhow, as the shells would not fall and deliver the ripe fruits, there was nothing more to it than the strangeness of their number. The shell could not be pulled out of its bough could not be broken and the process could not be accelerated, although unusually long.

Time passed by and another Ootsutsuki had been recognized as equally wise as Momoshiki. There had never been any Moidon demotion, and both were equally intelligent. The result was that Kinshiki had been appointed as his second. Although, they were both treated with the same respect by the inhabitants of Mangetsu.

They had asked their peers to be fully clothed for a couple of days. Maybe something had changed in their kiryoku and they were damaging the tree. The progenitor had lost all of its smaller branches at once. They resumed walking barefoot. The Moidon and his second had come to the conclusion that their ancestor was not dying of illness or age, but was willingly starving as to provide for the four daburumos it was harvesting. Sharing their hypothesis with all of their people, it was decided they would abandon exploring the universe, as they did not know if it was still their ancestor’s dream and dedicated themselves to helping it.

“Momoshiki the Forbearing.”

The leader looked up.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Moidon of Ootsutsukis. The fruits are ripe !”

The ruler got up, dizzy by the sudden movement. He gazed through the window to see Jinmenju’s head engulfed in steam. “Does Kinshiki the Humble knows ?”

“A messenger’s been sent to him, wise leader.”

Momoshiki walked slowly to the tree, the citizens invading the streets of Tsukiakari, their one and only city. His second soon joined him. The Moidon and his right-hand man left all of their people behind as only leaders and new bloomed were allowed near the tree. Leaving their hometown, the both of them respectfully stayed silent. As their ancestor did not talk, the Ootsutsukis considered it was not the way to enter in communion with it.

On a conventional harvest ceremony, the leader sat under the ripe fruit, put his hands upward in a cup shape, bent his head forward and closed his eyes. The Ootsutsukis waited in the city in silence as long as it took for their leader to come back. He would only do so when the fruit had fallen by itself and he had absorbed it. It could land onto his lap ; it was unusual, but not recriminated. The daburumo, however, could not touch the ground. If it did, it would immediately start blooming a new Ootsutsuki. It had never happened in the long history line of Moidon, but if it had, the ruler would've not consume the fruit.

But there were four ripe daburumos in the tree, that were all emitting an imposing cloud of steam and it was impossible to determine which one would fall first. The shells lied broken in half on the ground. Momoshiki walked to the progenitor and put his right hand on the trunk. He gasped soundlessly as life force was violently taken from his body, in such a powerful grasp that his palm was entirely burnt, leaving it a dark cherry color. The Ootsutsukis were immune to the cold, but not to high temperatures. He sat under a fruit, knowing that as they were all mature, they were all bound to come down. Once he had seated and closed his eyes, he heard his second walked to Jinmenju. He probably winced silently too and sat on the other side of the tree.

They waited.

Time does not flow in the same way for those who may live eternally. Events are not perceived as not happening fast enough. For the Ootsutsukis, every moment worth of mention was postponed as much as possible from happening, so they’d have a better memory of it. Everything that occurred unexpectedly had the highest of chances to be rapidly forgotten. Waiting made it so they could mark the moment. If they meditated long enough, every thought would leave their minds. Those who had nearly ceased all of their brain's electrical activity were able immortalized the moment. Only the wind broke the silence in which every grand occasion fell.

There was a crack, as a peduncle detached itself from a bough. There was a small smack as a daburumo fell into the second’s hands. The leader did not raise his head. His time had not come yet. The tree had sent a powerful sign, however, and it was highly probable that the Ootsutsukis would decide to dismiss Momoshiki as Moidon and assign Kinshiki as their new leader. Respectfully, his right-hand man did not eat the fruit. He was waiting for the elected ruler to receive his blessing from the progenitor.

There was another snap and a hard thud ; a daburumo had fallen to the ground. It would become the next generation of Ootsutsuki. He could hear the rustling of leaves as the fruit was already peeling to reveal its core. The pistil would disclose an enormous bulb that would expand to the point of bursting and let out its child. The baby would sleep for the couple of minutes it took for its body to reach the adult state. It was the first and last time an Ootsutsuki was known to sleep.

With a clap, the daburumo fell into his hands. He opened his eyes, got up and bowed to his ancestor for the offering. The Moidon was rapidly switching the fruit from one hand to another, as it was hot enough to cause discomfort.

He plunged his teeth into the fruit that burst into his mouth, over his cheeks and chin. To his surprise, it did not burn him. Its juice delivered relief, fulfilling a promise long overdue. The thick sirup went down his throat smooth as silk. He took another bite, which sent him a jolt of euphoria, never before equaled, as it was the first emotion he ever felt. The fruit pulp was tender as flesh and he rejoiced tearing it as a predator would its prey. Avidly, he filled his mouth entirely with what was left of the daburumo, his oily chin and fingers dripping burgundy. He was waiting for knowledge to fill his mind, but instead his body was infused with a very powerful feeling. He looked at their father, Jinmenju, then at Tsukiakari, where waited all of his brothers and finally at his home planet covered in her ever so beautiful white satin dress. He was overwhelmed with love. His heart rate accelerated, his breathing quickened, his eyes started burning and tears fell down his cheeks. He touched the wet skin with a single trembling hand and smiled. He didn’t know what was happening to him, but he knew it was all part of his parent’s plan. He got up.

“Kinshiki the Humble, my brother : eat this sacred fruit our father delivered to you.”

His sibling did not steer, even though his Moidon had talked in the presence of the tree. He got up and bowed to the progenitor. He took his first bite of the fruit. Crimson splashed over his face, chin and chest, marking his white marble body. Momoshiki was in awe ; he thought the whole process absolutely majestic. His kin went for the second bite with more haste, before putting the entire fruit in his mouth. The Moidon knew his brother was discovering a whole new range to life. These feelings were opening their eyes to a new dimension, a new way to perceive and analyze this life they were leading. The final daburumo hit the ground. This last one having fallen on his side of Jinmenju.

Kinshiki got on his feet. His two hands clenched in hard fists. He started trembling and could not restrain a hurl as his body was getting out of proportion. He grew taller, reaching unprecedented heights amongst the Ootsutsukis. He grew wider and bigger, as much as four times the size he was before. The ruler was absolutely amazed and furiously enjoyed these never before seen mutations. He looked at himself and did not notice any change. He was even more delighted to discover that their parent had had different gifts for them. As his brother metamorphoses seemed to be over, he turned to look at the blooming. Another little revolution in his people history, as there would be two new members to welcome at the same time. He discovered the first of the newly bloomed seated, a hint of doubt and fear in his eyes. Momoshiki’s heart had a jolt of happiness. Would the next generation of Ootsutsukis be blessed with the power to feel ?

His second was not able to regain composure ; he wobbled his way to the freshly bloomed on the other side of the tree. From where he was standing, the leader could not see him. His right-hand man hurled again, the earth trembling as he fell to his knees.

“Where is she ?” asked the new Ootsutsuki member nearest to the ruler.

Momoshiki got closer to the newly bloomed, quickly getting caught by the anxiety the other one’s eyes were displaying. His little brother got up. The leader stopped dead in his tracks. If most of the other one’s body was just like any Ootsutsukis, he, however, did not bear wooden horns and exhibited one, maybe two more organs, which were inconsistently flask and mobile. They were hanging in between his legs, not seeming to be following his body movements, only reacting to it : Just like hairs. The Moidon judged that it must’ve been purely decorative.

“Hinoka, where are you ?”

The newly bloomed eyes widen, breathing in, relief taking him. He turned around, following the sound of the high pitched voice that seemed to be the one of the other Ootsutsuki. The one apparently named Hinoka leaned in, as to help the other freshly bloomed to get up. Hands joined, they appeared from the other side of the tree. If Kinshiki’s transformation had amazed Momoshiki, he was literally mesmerized when he saw the other one’s body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Ootsutsukis' genesis story is really where I deviate the most from the original manga. Well... maybe not deviate, as it had not been given to us by Masashi Kishimoto... but where I decided to let my imagination run wild. 
> 
> You'll answer to that : "It is not that wild..."  
> I'll answer : "Ooooh... it will be... " (evil laugh)
> 
> :)
> 
> Thank you for your support !


	10. Here

Suddenly, he was here. He could not remember anything of where he had been or what he had been doing a second ago. Right now, it was dark. He was seated outside, in a small clearing, next to a fire. Both of his hands were held up in front of him. He looked at them, the skin appearing paper-thin. All of his body seemed to be that way. It was very strange. He felt feather light ; dust that came to life. He could not feel the air around, the wind or the grass against his ankles. He could not smell nor the forest, nor the wood burning, nor his own body. His tongue was awkwardly raspy, but he didn’t feel thirsty. He was not blinking and his heart was not pounding. He also realized he was not breathing. He tried to, but he did not feel the air flowing into his chest.

In front of him lay a woman, her long hair hiding her face. On his right, seated against a tree, a man was smiling at him.

“Normally, I would’ve not let your inner self show up, but Hinata having been awake for… some time now… is asleep… and I like to have someone to torment.”

Shino was trying very hard to remember what he was doing before having the eldest of the Hyuuga clan under the influence of insects he seemed to be controlling and himself being subjected to Sasuke’s will. The Aburame looked around, they were in the land of Fire as he recognized the forest surrounding them.

“What I am doing here ?”

“Here in the forest or _here_ ?”

The entomologist frowned. Where was he supposed to be if not … _here_.

“Haha ! You have been dead for nearly three years and you died rather unexpectedly and suddenly. Maybe that’s why you don’t remember, since it happened so quickly. I know, since I’ve killed you.”

Shino looked at the raven. What kind of mission would’ve asked of the Hokage’s advisor to end him ? And what kind of mission would require the need of practicing an edo tensei to revive him ? He looked at his former teammate lying on the ground, she was shivering uncontrollably.

“It seems there are some bodily responses that even the mazokus cannot control,” pointed out the Uchiha.

It hit him then. They were not a three-member team mission ordered by the seventh.

“It is starting to sink in ?”

The black-haired ninja had a cruel little laugh, winked and smiled viciously. Shino was, to say the least, puzzled.

“As for here in the forest, I am excited to tell you that we are on a hunt. Let’s say I’m the hunter, you are the leash and the Byaguan bearer is the hound.”

“What are we hunting ?”

“Power, of course.”

“Why did you kill me ?”

“To be able to spy on Konoha.”

“Why would you need to spy on your own village ?”

“For my revolution.”

The Aburame’s jaw dropped. “I thought you had been over that phase for ages.”

“I have taken the long road, but I have never let go of my goal.”

“Was I an edo tensei all this time ?”

“No, not at all. For the rest of the world you were still alive.

“How is that so ?”

“I had been performing a jutsu that is the result of many years of crafting.”

“Which is ?”

“Hebi no dappi no jutsu.”

“A snake molting jutsu ?”

“Yes. I am able to shed my skin to grow another one that looks like anyone.”

“Anyone ?”

“I still need a piece of DNA of the one I want to replicate, but yes.”

“So you impersonated me for nearly three years ?”

“Yes.”

“And nobody noticed ?”

“You were quite secretive…”

The entomologist’s throat constricted. He remembered vividly when Naruto had come back to the village and had not recognized him. He had not taken it well. But now, it seemed all of the Leaf did not recognize the imposter. Was he so elusive ?

“Hebi no dappi no jutsu… This kind of power resembles Orochimaru’s.”

The seventh’s advisor laughed. “It is.”

“I thought those powers were extracted from you.”

“They were. I have taken them back.”

The raven’s eyes were frightening in the light of the fire. Shino thought there was something totally off with him. He was overly chatty and seemed sadistically overjoyed.

“Have you shed your skin to look like Uchiha Sasuke ?”

“This is a good question and assumption. This is not a skin. I am Uchiha Sasuke.”

Utterly dumbfounded by the situation, the Aburame looked away, his gaze felt on the insects’ victim.

“Why is she shaking like that ?”

“I suppose her body is fighting to stay alive. There was some time needing between the moment I shed your skin and when I was reborn in this self of mine. There was no one to control the bugs in this gap, so they started to eat her from the inside.”

“Don’t you care at all for her suffering ?”

“No.”

“How ? Why ?”

“You are starting to bore me now.”

“Are you threatening me ? I don’t care. I’m already dead and don’t feel a thing.”

The raven flashed a perverse grin. The entomologist could feel his chakra flow sending a new message to the insects under his commands. Hinata shrieked.

“Torture is not only about hurting the body, Shino-san.”

The Aburame cringed, disgusted. Even though he was under the Uchiha’s influence, he was still performing the deed.

“Stop it, stop it !”

The woman’s body relaxed, she seemed to have fallen unconscious.

“Lord Hokage is going to kill you.”

Sasuke choked so hard he coughed for a long time, before taking a raspy and long breath and then laughed his heart out. “He’ll probably try with all his might when I tell him I’ve murdered her.”

“You truly intend not to let her live ?”

“I cannot afford loose ends.”

“That is all she represents to you ?”

“That is what all of you represent to me.”

The entomologist was horrified. He was no shinobi god and had nowhere near the capacity to defy the edo tensei jutsu. He had the reflex to shiver, even though he did not have the uncomfortable sensation creeping up his neck. He looked up, searching for a way out, as panic was settling in his mind. Dawn was rising, the first birds were chirping, the sky was gray on his left and completely dark on his right.

“Enough chitchat for now, we have a fantastic hunt to attend. Get up both of you.”

Shino obeyed as his unconscious puppet. Her head was hanging low and her hair was loose in front of her, hiding her face.

“Open her Byakugan.”

The Hyuuga girl lifted her head and triggered her eyes prowess.

“Why do you need me to control her ?”

“Because, even though an edo tensei does not require chakra from the user, I still have to focus on the reincarnates as to make them follow orders. Later on, my attention will be sufficiently divided between you and this prey of ours.”

As his former teammate’s body was already showing signs of failures, it only meant that he intended to keep her under the insects’ control until it meant her death.

“I beg of you, I don’t want to be _here_ when you kill her through me.”

“Don’t worry. You are a whole other level of boring anyway.”

With that said, The Aburame’s mind went back to nothingness. He didn’t want to share anymore with the rejuvenated ninja. There may come a time when he would find useful or simply amusing to have him conscious again, but he didn’t want him to know too much. He really liked having total control over the dead, since only mental awareness was required as means of domination and obedience. There was no need for any explanation or even talking for that matter. The girl came to his right side, and the boy was just behind her. They darted through the forest. With the Byakugan, they would find it in no time.


	11. The Kages summit

The room was thick with tension, not even a kunai would’ve cut through it. At first, there had been no reaction at all. No one had voiced any objection. But as the silence lingered, one by one, the five leaders began to stiffen. Even Sasuke, who had shown up at the last minute, was stunned, forgetting to arbor his marble mask. Naruto flexed his prosthetic hand, having phantom pains, as he always did when nervous. He then began fumbling with his headdress. As the Kages’ counselors had decided it, each of them would come with another’s hat to the summits. This year, he had brought the Tsuchikage’s. It had been established as a new tradition, as a proof of friendship and cooperation. In reality, the headdresses were infused with the DNA and chakra of their respective leader and were subjected to a jutsu, as to prevent any imposter to attend the reunion. If another person were to try and put the hat on, it would never stay put, endlessly falling backyards ; revealing the imposter’s face.

So, the meeting would always begin by them entering the room, placing the hats as to circle the center of the table. Each Kage would then attend their designated seat, put the hat on and bow to each and every leader. The procedure had been cut short, as most of them, adding their bodyguards and advisors, had sensors abilities and had immediately felt the presence of Shukaku in the Inn.

So, as to ease the tension, Naruto went to Kurotsuchi, bowing as he gave her the hat. He then went to Choojuuroo. He put his hands in front of him, palms facing up, showing a crooked smile. The Mizukage gave him the Hokage’s hat he had been holding. The blond put it on and bowed to his peers. Gaara quickly followed, as for Darui. Kurotsuchi and Choojuuroo waited for the first three to have their headdresses on, before doing so themselves.

The Kazekage stayed up as everyone around sat. He immediately began to explain the situation, without any detour, only giving the facts, not trying to gain sympathy through the emotional reasons. It was one of the redhead’s strength, but in that specific case, Naruto thought that all there was to the story was the affect. The bond Shukaku and his host were sharing was the only thing validating their fusion. Once he stopped talking, the Tsuchikage inhaled, lied back on her chair, put both hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling. The Mizukage exhaled, crossed his arms, bent his head forward and stared at his feet.

“This… will be putting much political strain…” remarked Kurotsuchi.

“The lords will not tolerate it,” admitted Choojuuroo.

“What do you mean ?” asked Naruto.

The Tsuchikage and Mizukage exchanged a look, the latter nodded.

“Well, Choojuuroo-san and I have already talked about it several times and had always come up with solutions on how to manage the problem… but the political bullshit that comes with our duties has been somewhat harsh for us,” explained the kunoichi.

“You see, people forget. Those who were actually there during the Fourth Shinobi World War never questioned the balance of power between nations. But, now, a new generation of lords is rising and they were mere kids when they were caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. To them, it was just a pleasant dream. They do know about you Hokage-sama. You are a hero to them, but they also see you as the exception that proves the rule,” continued the Kiri’s shinobi.

“An exception ?” questioned the Uzumaki.

“Yes,” answered the Mizukage. “To the people, you are the one and only acknowledged hero. You saved the world, thus, you have inherited the right to exist as an entity of your own. The Fox God that saved us all.”

“Don’t they have history classes at all ?” inquired incredulously the Raikage.

“The shinobi history is a very small part of the global history. Most people only know about Uzumaki Naruto and the deeds of their own Kage,” justified Gaara, frowning, eyes transfixed on the table.

“So you’re saying that for other nations, Killer B and Hachibi are… ?” the Kumo’s shinobi let the end of his question lingered.

“An unfair privilege left to Kumogakure,” muttered Choojuuroo.

“A… ? He’s a person ! A Hero ! What would they want us to do ? Exile him ? Extract eight tails ?” The Raikage was getting angrier with every question.

“Darui-san, friend…” called Kurotsuchi.

The Kumo’s ninja looked at her.

“My grandfather battled alongside the fourth Raikage and all the Kage’s predecessors. We do not forget. The people may have forgotten, but that is part of our duties as their leader : to make sure that ultimately, all will be reminded.”

Darui closed his eyes and exhaled.

“What if we were to write an official decree in which the jinchuurikis vowed to never use the powers of the tailed beast against other nations ?” offered the Kazekage.

“Oh, it is not about the fear of being attacked,” refuted the Mizukage.

“It is about feeling protected,” added the Tsuchikage.

“Would you care to explain ?” asked the Hokage.

“The thing is that, slowly but surely, there is a movement of population towards nations where there are jinchuurikis,” exposed Choojuuroo.

“People feel that they are safer there,” claimed Kurotsuchi.

The seventh could not believe his ears. He had lived half his life with people fearing him, avoiding him, resenting hm, ignoring, hating, insulting him and now, it looked like people from everywhere around were migrating to where he lived because he made them feel safer. Thus, it was endangering the relation he had with the other Kages, the ones with whom he had taken so much care into forging a meaningful bond. Naruto glanced at Sasuke. The raven nodded : he had been reporting about this flow of people.

“What are the repercussions of these population movements ?” questioned Gaara.

“It is a dangerous vicious circle, as people leaving are calling for even more civilians to depart in the future : Friends and family members want to be reunited. Our work force is being siphoned. The fields are abandoned, factories are closing, it has a huge impact on our economy,” pleaded Choujuuroo.

“The prestige and power of a Lord are directly linked to the number of citizens they represent. They are all over our asses about the legacies of their fathers they see melting in front of their very eyes,” said a discouraged Kurotsuchi.

“You want us to deport the migrants ?” inquired the Raikage.

“No, the Lords are rancorous creatures. We fear discrimination or recriminations from their part on the deported people,” scorned the Tsuchikage.

“Should we close the borders, then ?” proposed Darui.

“And fill the prisons with illegal immigrants ? Have their children being put under state protection ? Increase the number of shinobis at our borders, as if at war ? No, it is not the way either,” rebuked the Mizukage.

“What then ?” spurted Naruto.

Kurotsuchi and Choojuuroo did not answer, looking down, uncomfortable.

“They want jinchuurikis,” voiced the man of the Sand.

“The Lords are requiring it,” implored the Tsuchikage.

“They don’t even know that the Kazekage has…” began the Raikage.

“They have been demanding it for a couple of years,” interrupted the Mizukage.

“Up to this point there were always more nations without jinchuuriki than the opposite. But now…” added the Tsuchikage.

“The bijuus are not the properties of shinobis ! The Lords cannot require that they’d be handled as such !” stated the seventh.

“We know, Hokage-sama. But the Lords do not only play shogi. They have also read the many reports that followed the Fourth Shinobi World War. That is how they discovered that the tailed beasts have been created by Ootsutsuki Hagoromo and, since he is the father of ninshuu, they believe that bijuus should be handled by ninjas as theirs,” revealed Choujurou.

“The bijuus were not created as tools of war nor was ninshuu in the first place !” spat the blond. “The tailed beasts have been set free since Kaguya was sealed and we agreed there would never be any more hosts. Jinchuurikis live ostracized !”

“There is no denying it, Hokage-sama. But we fear the Lords may rebel against us, the Kages, and oppress the civilians living under our protection, leading us directly into a civil war,” defended Kurotsuchi.

Choojuuroo dropped the bomb : “So here is the question : Is the sake of two jinchuurikis worth the one of two nations ?”

As the Mizukage’s words were sinking in, the seventh’s fists and teeth clenched.

“We know the saying : All for one, one for all…” started Darui.

“I will not let two souls take the fall for all others…” interrupted Naruto.

“What are two men to two nations ?” argued Kurotsuchi.

“What are … ? Obito and Madara were only two men ! They took the fall for others and nearly destroyed everything on their path of bitterness !” exclaimed the Uzumaki.

Kurotsuchi looked at the blond and his advisor. “It took two men to stop them.”


	12. Interim

“How long has it been since the last time Shino was seen ?”

“Three days, Hokage-sama,” answered Choji.

“What do we know about it ?”

“He was last seen by Rock Lee, when he took over his watch at the eastern tower at midnight on the 24th. Nor his father, Shibi-san or Aburame Tatsuma know of his whereabouts. He was very secretive, even for a member of his clan.”

“Is Kiba on his trail ?”

“I have sent him to follow his scent.”

The master and his dog were yawning and stretching while getting to the guard tower. The entomologist’s disappearance seemed highly improbable. Most likely, he was pursuing his one and only goal : to find an entirely new insect specie. If he succeeded, he would establish the Hidden Bug Village : A place where people lived happily ever after with mosquitoes and having no hobby but marveling at six legged crawlers.

He followed the scent of his former team member very easily. He could notice the faintest trace of his passage, he had been his partner for nearly ten years and Shino had a very strong and particular scent. It was not that he smelled bad, but his signature was nearly overwhelming to Kiba, since he was the host of hundreds of thousands of insects. The Aburame scent was very intense to the Inuzuka, since it was a fusion between human and the colony they were hosting. It had taken quite long to the dog trainer to get used to his teammate, which he could smell from two to three blocks away, without concentrating chakra into his nose. It had been the same thing with Naruto, as the host of the gigantic fox. When the entomologist and the Hokage were in the same room, Kiba had to stop altogether the chakra flow in his nose, or he would asphyxiate. Not only did they have the most noticeable scent of the entire Leaf, but it had gotten worse over the years. Since Naruto had fused with some of Kyuubi’s chakra during the Fourth War, he had had a scent as powerful as his ninja’s abilities. The Inuzuka was happy they were not living too close to each other. As for Shino…

A couple of months ago, the dog trainer had caused a commotion, as he had caught an overpowering and totally new emanation. He had told Choji that an incredibly large number of unknown shinobis had infiltrated Konoha. The seventh, using his sage mode, had sensed the thousands of new chakra flows that were concealed in the village. They had looked like fools when most of the ANBU squad had ambushed a rather stoic Aburame doing laundry.

Shikamaru had popped a vein on his forehead. “Thousands ? You thought that _**thousands** _ of shinobis had invaded ? Where were they ? Hiding beneath every pebble ?”

One could not have blamed them for not being committed to Konoha’s protection.

It had been a bug thing. The entomologist explained he had become host to kidaichus. It had been a shock. Shino had kept repeating, when talking about his creepy friends, that those were extremely dangerous to handle. He seemed to be coping fine though, since he was still alive as of today… well, unless his disappearance had to do with being eaten inside out by his bugs. Kiba shivered. Aoimaru barked.

“Yeah, I know, good boy.”

He patted the hound’s head. The pup was Akamaru’s. He was still very young and although he was already very well trained, he still sought his master’s approval. Akamaru and the Inuzuka knew by their body language what the other one was feeling and even thinking. Aoimaru would need a couple years to get there. He would bark, whine, jump, growl or run to signify to his trainer he had accomplished what was asked of him and would lick his fingers or cheeks every chance he had too, as to get a scratch. Kiba looked at his new ninja companion with a sense of awe. He reminded him so much of Akamaru as a puppy and of himself as a kid. He missed the old dog, which was like missing a leg. However, the Inuzuka’s first companion could not accompany his master in missions anymore. He was so worn out by now that all he did was to lie beside his master whenever the latter was home. He also help in training Aoimaru and going down that path with another dog was like learning how to be a ninja all over again. Even though he trained the youngster with the same techniques he used with his father, a different hound meant a different way of doing things. The best trainers were the one who learned from their new companion and created better combinations. For now, Aoimaru was so young ; they were still working on the basics.

Their destination was a couple of blocks ahead, they could not see it, but they had just been struck by Shino’s scent. It was going in the opposite direction, and it was clearly coming from the tower. There was no use in getting there, so they followed the path of his essence.

It led to the Hokage’s house. The Aburame had obviously gone in. He had not gotten out, well, at least, not from the front door. Aoimaru lifted his nose and smelled the air. Kiba jumped to the roof : the scent was further ahead. The entomologist had gotten out by the back yard and had jumped onto the neighbor’s house. The Inuzuka did the same, his dog following on the ground. Shino seemed to have gone through the eastern part of town, and then downtown, without ever going anywhere in particular, and then got to the northern gate. The trainer and his pup went back to the seventh’s office, to make a report.

Naruto was sitting at his desk, drowned by files, reports, documents, many empty ramen cups and surrounded by the usual crowd : Shikamaru to his right, eyes closed, arms crossed, the Akimichi to his left, chin between thumb and index. The Inuzuka told them everything, facing them all, Aoimaru in his jacket.

“Choji, would you please get my wife ? She is a guest of her sister, Lady Hanabi. If Shino went into our house, she would know about it.”

The joonin captain nodded and left.

“I will get the search party,” said the dog master.

Kiba, Sai and Sakura had been assigned as the official search/rescue team of Konoha. The Inuzuka ; being able to follow the scent of anyone nearly without fault. The painter ; acting as a messenger with his ink technique and as an extraordinary asset when you needed at least one member not to panic about the situation. Sakura ; as the best medic ninja in the village was an invaluable member.

As someone was walking into his office, the bunshin lifted his head. He got up and bowed to Lady Hanabi, a tad confused.

“Hokage-sama,” Hanabi bowed.

“My Lady, I am deeply sorry that you were disturbed at such an hour.”

“I need to speak to you… only you Hokage-sama.”

The duplicate looked at Shikamaru, whom departed and closed the door behind him.

“It seems you have sent Akimichi Choji at my house to get my sibling.”

“I have.”

“But… she is not there.”

“She told me that she and the children would spend some time in your company.”

“Boruto and Himawari are in my care, indeed. However, my sister left, having no intent on staying as my guest.”

“Where did she go ?”

“I am afraid Hinata let me in some secret matters…” Hanabi’s voice lowered to a whisper. “She said she had to be at the Kages summit.”

The blond’s jaw dropped. He didn’t really care that his spouse had betrayed the secrecy of his departure, but it was startling, considering her nature. More importantly, why would she ever want to go there ?

“Did she say why ?”

The Lady Hyuuga’s head dropped. She swallowed, sighed and looked through the window as she answered. “To be with you.”

The replicate moaned, rubbing his face. He then bent his head forward, looking at his desk, putting both hands on his nape. What had he done to this sweet little wife of his ? Resting his forehead on his left hand, he exhaled loudly.

“Don’t be angry with her.”

“I am not. I’m furious with myself.”

“What will you do ?”

“… I will go after her.”

“Thank you, Hokage-sama.”

“Thank you, Lady Hanabi.”

She bowed and left. His advisor came in.

“I have to speak to you in private Shikamaru.”

The Nara signaled the rescue team to wait outside. He closed the door behind him.

“Hinata left the village to be by my side at the Kages summit.”

His friend did not frown, did not hesitate, he had understood right away.

“As your advisor…”

The bunshin got up. “You know I will not listen,” he got rid of his kage’s coat.

“I have to…” began the shadow manipulator.

“I leave matters into your hands effective immediately,” the blond went to the door.

Shikamaru blocked the way. “When did she leave ?”

The duplicate halted, blinked, thought about it and answered. “… Three days ago.”

“She is already with you. This part of you just doesn’t know it yet.”

Tail between legs, the replicate fumbled nervously with his fingers, went to the bay window overlooking the village.

“Look… How about you reunite with the Hokage, so you make sure she actually is with you and then…”

The bunshin disappeared.

Shikamaru went to the desk and sat. “Interim Hokage… what a drag.”


	13. Bubbling hate

They ended the summit on good terms, but they could not reach an agreement. Very late into the night, after endlessly going over the same arguments about not using the bijuus that had been set free and saving two nations on the brink of civil war, Gaara had proposed a compromise. The Mizukage would go and find Isobu, three-tails, whose jinchuuriki had been Yagura of Kirigakure. He would explain the situation to the beast and propose to him to resume his former role. The Tsuchikage would do the same with Kokuoo the Gobi whose host had been Han of Iwakagure.

“What if they do not agree to be sealed again ?” had asked Naruto.

“Then, we would have to trust in our fellow Kages to do what they deem best,” had answered Gaara.

Hence the line of cooperation had been weakened. The seventh saw a turning point there, where the leaders were now doing things their own way, in the interest of their village. Of course, he understood the very difficult position Choojuuroo and Kurotsuchi were in, but never had the blond sacrificed one to save all. He knew that it was not the right thing to do, but he was in no position to say : I’ll save your village from civil war and leave the tailed beasts to be free, believe it ! He was not fighting an outsider, he was not saving a ninja from Konoha, he was collaborating with four other Kages. Even though Naruto only had everyone’s best interest at heart, there was a limit to how much he could interfere in other nation’s businesses, without undermining the role of their Kage. They were equal and as equals, no one was in a position to impose on another.

Despite the late hour, it took a while for the Hokage’s mind to shut down and let him fall asleep. As a result, the sun was high in the sky when he woke up. He groaned, rubbed his face and scratched his head. At first, he could not picture where he was. He sat, he had slept with his Kage coat still on. It hit him then : the Inn. He got up and looked for the alarm clock on his bedside table. It wasn’t there. He searched around. It was smashed in pieces on the floor, near the door. He pinched the brink of his nose between his thumb and index. He was feeling like a bundle of dirty laundry. He undressed, got into the shower and let the water’s pressure massage his neck and its high temperature wash away the stress of unresolved matters. He got dressed and started brushing his teeth. There was a gentle knock on the door.

“Hokage-sama ?”

“Come in, Shashuke.”

The raven came in, looking sharp.

“Gimma a minu.”

He then gestured to the black-haired ninja to sit down on the chair facing a table in the corner of the room.

“I tried to wake you up for the other Kages’s departure… but… you threw your answer against the wall.”

Naruto could not remember any of it, but it explained the fate of the alarm clock. He felt embarrassed about it and about missing the other Kages, but he could not change any of it right now. He sighed.

“Shanks for shrying and shorry.”

“Hn…”

“Sho, wha yaa shink o ve shiuassion ?”

“Well, there is the possibility of a different… outcome.”

The blond put his toothbrush down, looked at the Uchiha in the mirror and turned around. “Which is ?”

“Well, what if Kirigakure and Iwagakure had a way to protect themselves against the tailed beasts and their jinchuurikis ?”

Naruto went to his bed and took out his ANBU mask from under it. “That’s already what they plan to do with Isobu and Kokuoo.”

“No, I mean, other than sealing bijuus… What if they could control them ?”

“Control them ? … Only… you can do that now.”

“What if each of them had a Sharingan ?”

The seventh’s jaw dropped. “Sasuke you… are committed to get blind as to preserve peace in the shinobi world ?”

“What ?”

Naruto’s eyes went from the raven to the wall, and to a far away place only him could see. “No….”

“Let me explain…”

“No…” the blond dropped his mask.

The black-haired ninja stretched his arm and caught it. “Look, you are not listening and you have no credibility whatsoever with your mouth covered in toothpaste.”

The seventh’s breathing and heartbeat became frantic ; he looked around as if he had missed something in the tiny room.

“Hinata… Hinata is missing !”

“What ?”

“The kage bunshin returned to me, wanting to make sure she was with me !”

“Why would she be with you ?”

“… She…”

Naruto suddenly seemed struck with discomfort. He swallowed hard and exhaled by his nose. His brows furrowed and his fists clenched.

“What is going on, Hokage-sama ?”

An immensely powerful and warm chakra invaded the room. Sasuke closed his eyes for a second, opening them back to a panting, saged mode, sun-glowing blond.

“What… is happening ?”

Naruto went down on one knee, then on the other one. Soon after, he was on all four. The raven put the fox mask in an inside pocket of his cape, went to the ground, catching the Hokage by both his shoulders. His friend was shaking from all over.

“K…Kuso…” was all the blond could manage to say.

“Seventh, I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

Small beads of sweat were starting to appear on Naruto’s forehead. The glowing chakra surrounding him started to get darker. As the Hokage’s gaze locked onto Sasuke, another chakra signature was submerging him, bubbling red all over his body.

“Get… out…” managed to say the Uzumaki through his clenched teeth.

The Uchiha remembered this chakra. He had seen it in their first fight in the Valley of the end when they were twelve. But it had surfaced out of anger ; it was before Naruto had befriended the fox. Could his wife’s disappearance triggered this ? It didn’t make sense. The blond seemed to be fighting it, but he already had the fangs, the pointy bubbly ears and a first tail had sprouted.

“You’ve got to get a hold of Kurama… I can’t use my Sharingan ! I can’t go into your subconscious and see what he’s trying to do.”

A second tail sprouted. Sasuke felt completely useless. “Kuso, Naruto ! LOOK AT ME !”

The Hokage flinched, his elbows dropped to the grown, his eyes stubbornly closed. A third tail erupted. “Knock… me… out…” he croaked.

The raven’s eyes widened. His mouth becoming a thin hard line. “I’m sorry, Hokage-sama.”

The Uchiha grabbed his Kage by the hair and put everything on a punch to the temple, but a bubbly red arm extended and a hand caught his wrist in mid-air. A fourth tail appeared. The seventh shrieked as a dark chakra engulfed him, in a twisted black and red fire. His mouth distorted into an insane predator’s maw as his eyes disappeared into bottomless pits of white-hot fury. The raven felt his wrist skin fry under the savage fox hold. They both hurled ; the chakra beast threw the man into the wall and then jumped through the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must admit I have been waiting from week one for this chapter to finally be uploaded. Why ? 
> 
> Because from here... everything will go south...
> 
> MOUHAHAHA (maniacal laugh)


	14. Departure

It had been awhile since the three of them had been summoned for a mission of such kind. In fact, as it was to retrieve a Leaf’s shinobi, it was a first... considering they were not the search party in the case of Sasuke. Sakura had checked up her gear over and over to make sure she had everything. She didn’t know if she was excited or frightened, probably both. She was the team leader after all.

“Hey there, cute pup !”

“Hey yourself, social retard.”

Sai was no longer the totally socially inapt teen they had known. He was still very hard to read and always harboured that perfect little smile that made him look like a maniac, but he had learned how to mostly connect with people and seemingly interact with them. They laughed a lot about those times, when he was trying so hard to blend in. He had been calling her teammate cute pup for quite a while now, making fun of himself while teasing Sakura about the ugly-dog nickname.

“You are sad. Sasuke left, didn’t he ?”

She had come to accept his bluntness as part of his personality, because that trait never went away.

“I never understood why you loved the man.”

And it was clear to Sakura that despite all he had learned, the word dimwit would be part of his epitaph. When he got under her skin, she breathed and looked at him in the eyes. They were shadowed by the wall that Sai tried to tear apart, brick by brick, but most of it was still standing. He had done amazing, considering he was a father, he had friends and seemed happy with his life.

“Sai… personal boundaries.”

“I am sorry, Sakura-chan.”

He offered the I’m-gonna-stab-you grin and bowed. It was impossible to stay mad against him, even though he was her most awful friend.

She didn’t need a reason or to explain why she was in love with her husband. She had loved him for as long as she could remember. The feelings had evolved and changed a lot over the years, but they affected her still the same. He made her heart flutter. When she was but very young, there was nothing more to it. Simply feeling her heart beating faster in her chest whenever she saw him and the rush it would give had been enough.

At the academy, just like anyone else, she was drawn by the fact that Sasuke was a straight A student, considered cool and mysterious. By the time they were paired up in team 7, she thought he was extremely attractive. Part of what she was feeling back then was empowered by Ino’s rivalry and the fact that the only other boy she patronized with was Naruto. The twelve to fifteen blond had been an absolute repulsive. Her feelings had grown through the intense situations they had dealt with : the near-death experience of the dark-haired ninja by Haku’s hand, the chuunin exam with Orochimaru, the cursed marked raven and so on.

But then he had left, had despised her, mocked her, had tried to kill her, to kill everyone, and when Naruto had brought him back, he’d been gone again…

And yet, she still loved him.

She had tried to understand why she could not move on. Why she had so little self-respect or why she could not have loved Naruto : the guy actually showing that he cared, who had been chasing her forever and who was genuinely… fantastic… except for being a total baka. She had really wanted to love him back and maybe she would be Naruto’s wife today if he hadn’t known her so well. But she was trapped, stuck, heart and hand ties by her love for the Uchiha. She had even hated herself for it. She had come to have such disgust for herself while waiting another three years for him to return from his redemption travels that she had begun to slap herself and spit at the reflection of her sorry face in the mirror.

She was pathetic and lonely and thus had begun to see a psychologist to knock her out of it. She had diagnosed her with a very serious obsessive love disorder and had told her she needed psychotherapy and possibly drugs.

Of course, that was exactly when Sasuke came back to Konoha. She had tried to refrain her heart and thoughts, her inner self screaming that she had a mental illness, that she needed to focus on treating it, that her obsession with the raven was not healthy, that he needed therapy himself, that they were no good for each other, that even though he was there, his mind would always be away and his heart distant, that she would forever be the miserable and stupid girl waiting for her unapproachable prince, that she was too old to be trapped in her romance daydreams, that she really needed to be the adult she had become, that she was nice enough and surely Rock Lee would treat her right, but then, the Uchiha…

He had warned her the night he had come back from his journey. He would provide for her and would never raise his hand or his voice, but he would never be the lover any woman was in the right to hope for. She could not hope for him to hold her hand in public, for them to have stay at home nights where they would do nothing but cuddle. He would not be any different from what she already knew, except that he would not reject or insult her anymore.

She had looked at him quite confused about what to do with such a cold love declaration. He had gritted his teeth, clenched his fists and clutched some of his hair. He had exhaled loudly one last time and looked right into her eyes.

“But I promise you this Sakura : I’ve never laid a hand on another woman and it will never happen. You are and always will be the only girl for me.”

She had gone from confused to shock, silent tears sliding down her face.

“I… I want …” he stuttered.

He had closed his eyes, he could not tell her that while looking at her. He had breathed in and out to calm himself. He had then said, very slowly :

“I want you to be the one to bear my child.”

It was not that Sasuke had been so fond of children. He was, however, invested in bringing back the Uchiha clan to former glory. He could not do so as the only member left. 

The pink-haired girl had launched herself onto him, had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and kissed him with the ferocity of all the kisses she had suppressed for so many years. She had plunged her tongue into his mouth with an angry satisfaction, and he had answered with the same furious energy. He had grabbed her arms too tight ; she had pressed her body violently against his. He had been so not ready for this. She would not stop crying and neither could the raven.

It was through Naruto that she was able to make peace with her feelings. As the blond had never abandoned his friend, never disown his friendship ; the Haruno could never let go of her love for the black-haired ninja. The Uzumaki was the Uchiha’s friend ; she was his lover, however insane it may look from the outside.

She was so relieved Sarada seemed to have mostly inherited her father’s cool temper. She had been absolutely petrified when she had found a page of her daughter’s diary covered in little hearts. She had asked her what it was all about, but Sarada had refused to answer. She kept pressuring her until she broke down and started to cry.

“All the other girls do it ! I wanted to fit in. Happy now ?”

Sakura had been taken aback, ashamed of herself. She had wanted to take her daughter into her arms, but Sarada had rejected her and slammed the door of her room. As a mother, she was afraid to see her girl fall into the same pattern. She had to trust her not to.

“Search party, assembled !”

Aoimaru was on his back legs, his front paws on Sakura’s leg, nudging her hand with his nose as to receive an affectionate pat. He then went to Sai and nibbled the tips of his fingers. The ninja gave the dog a scratch between the ears. Afterwards, the pup went back to sit next to his master.

“You are such a whorehound, Aoimaru,” said Kiba rolling his eyes.

“He gets that from his master,” added Sai.

The kunoichi choked as she tried to refrain laughing. The Inuzuka showed a fang, for sport, and said, pretending to be offended : “Okay, let’s find Shino, then.”

Aoimaru barked, sniffed the ground and then the air and off he was. They followed the dog through the forest.

“It is weird,” thought out loud the Haruno.

“The guy is weird,” complemented Sai.

“Look who’s talking !” snorted Kiba.

“No, the whole situation. Hinata leaves, Shino disappears and Naruto’s bunshin dissolves,” stated Sakura.

“Too much at the same time to be coincidental ?” presumed the former Root ninja.

“I don’t like it,” asserted Sakura.

“Shikamaru would’ve briefed us about it if he thought those departures were interconnected,” assumed the Inuzuka.

“Yeah… except if he could not figure out what linked the three of them,” hypothesized the pink-haired woman.

“Well, Naruto and Hinata are husband and wife,” said matter-of-factly the painter.

“True. But they did not leave together and we don’t even know when Shino actually left. For all we know, it was the same day Hinata went away,” analyzed the kunoichi.

“You’re not suggesting they are having an affair ?” inquired Kiba incredulously.

“WHAT ?” hurled the medic ninja.

“Hinata is pretty,” affirmed the stoic shinobi, nodding.

“Yeah, Sai, we all know about your pretty girls standards !” spat Sakura.

“You think Naruto discovered it and is gone to rip Shino’s throat ?” suggested Kiba. An evil smile crossed his face as he continued : “You think he went haywire and is hunting down his wife’s lover drowned by the fox chakra ?”

The leader of the team’s heart skipped a beat. She had a very vivid memory of the boy nearly flayed after having been submerged by the nine tails’ boiling hate. She was about to punch the Inuzuka.

“That would be very unlikely,” answered a detached painter.

“… NO ! You think he would join them ?”

Sakura grabbed Kiba’s hair and smashed his head into a tree. His face contorted with pain, a silent scream in his mouth, he scratched the trunk and let out a heartfelt insult : “Bitch.”

Aoimaru bit his butt cheek. His master let out a yelp. “Oh come on ! Sometimes I forget about your sensitivities, OK ?” growled the Inuzuka, rubbing his bun.

“No, Hinata loves her husband too much to be in an affair,” responded the former Root member as if nothing had happened.

“Sai, you surely are the most boring person ever,” retorted Kiba.

“Why ?”

“Never mind, just do your psychotic smile as if I had said nothing.”

The passive ninja obeyed.

“There you are.”

“Anyway, something doesn’t add up,” pointed out the kunoichi.

“I agree, but there is too much unknown and we cannot assume the worst from our own. We have to trust in them. There is probably a very good explanation, which eludes us at this time,” reasonably answered Sai.

“My name is Sai, Sayonara Allthefun.”

“It is a very good joke, Kiba.”

As the painter was displaying no emotion at all, the dog trainer would never know if he was telling the truth or if he was ironic. After that, they ran in silence, still following Aoimaru. As they were near the edge of the forest, the hound slowed down and stopped altogether before hitting daylight.

“What is it boy ?” asked his master crossing onto the other side.

As Kiba was about to fall frontward, his pup barked furiously to warn him. The Inuzuka gulped, jumped backward, inhaled and exhaled loudly regaining balance. He pat his dog on the head, still shocked about what had nearly happened. He looked at Sakura and Sai, eyes wide open.

“He… Shino fell over the cliff.”


	15. Demon fox

Sasuke was hidden behind bushes, catching his breath, allowing the heavy rain to sooth the jolts of searing pain from his wrist. It did not seem to heal but to only get worse. He had been running after the enraged fox for a while now. They had gotten far, but not as much as they could’ve. The beast behaviour was completely erratic. It had been running back and forth and through most obstacles. It had hit headfirst trees and boulders, all turning to dust upon impact. It had run in large circles that had shrunk each time it’d come around, to the point of running after its tails. It did that for so long, that the grass had disappeared and it traced a meters deep trench into the ground. At first, it could’ve been funny, but as it kept going and going, a tight knot had formed in the raven’s stomach : it was downright terrifying. Kurama or Naruto had started to violently vomit while running and it took the animal so long to regain balance that it made the Uchiha cringe. It could not walk straight, falling to the side, having no control whatsoever in where it was going.

Right now, it was lying on its left, probably simply waiting for the world to stop spinning and to be able to stand up straight. As it did, a fifth and a sixth tail appeared and with the last one, an exoskeleton formed around the beast. The fox then got up, having regained stability of movement and turned its head around. It seemed to have an evil smirk and then dashed through the forest. Sasuke barely followed, the savage animal giving it all it had. He was about to lose it, the only traces left were enormous paws on the ground that led to a luminous point up front. The Sharingan bearer was anxious. Naruto was completely submerged by the fox and he could not sense his Kage. Since they had both received Ootsutsuki Hagoromo’s chakra, they had always been able to feel each other’s presence, wherever they were. So, if he lost trace of the demon fox, he would not be able to find it by sensing the seventh. The beast had such an overwhelming chakra that he would sense it for a while before getting out of its reach, but he didn’t want to risk it.

Right now, most of that mass of chakra was directly in front of him, but seemed to be stopped… and a certain amount of it was… coming at him from... He jumped, dodging a chakra arm erupting from underground. He kicked himself sideways using a tree to avoid a bijuu bomb, backflipped from a branch to evade another, ran upward along a tree to escape a chakra arm, jumped on five different firs to elude other bijuu bombs and chakra arms and decided he had enough. He let one enormous hand catch him and let it savour victory for a moment, before the jutsu was released and the fox realized it was holding a birch of wood. The raven was back to hiding. He was angry with himself. He could not find a way to capture the fox without seriously hurting Naruto. His katon fire-style would be useless against it. He could not chidori its ass, since he would need to pierce the beast to injure it, resulting in endangering the Kage’s life, while getting very serious burns on his only already injured arm. He looked at his wrist, the skin had turned black and he worried about the burning extending to the muscular tissue.

He got his sword out of the scabbard attached on his back. He had been wrong. He had to inflict damage to the blond. As the fox was not free of its host, it still depended on him to be able to manifest. From what Sakura had told him, the Uzumaki was already in excruciating agony. So, by inflicting more pain and releasing him from it, the Uchiha was in fact showing mercy. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to stab him too many times to stop him. His Kage had an annoying amount of chakra and an absurd reserve of sheer willfulness. Another problem was that the sword only allowed close combat fight, while the demon thing seemed to be willing to play on a long-distance range.

The beast searching for him had taken down most of the surrounding forest. It didn’t seem very good at pinpointing his location. Maybe, as a fox, it resorted more to smelling chakra then sensing it. In that case, the pouring rain was a precious ally. The black-haired ninja also thanked the darkness the clouded sky brought, as it was allowing him to be better concealed. For the animal, it was quite the opposite ; its fiery chakra literally glowing. Sasuke followed the now seven tails beast with his eyes, waiting for it to be close enough so he could go and pierce its right shoulder. He silently let himself fall, sword high in his right hand. The blade slid in between bones of the exoskeleton and went all the way through the upper back to the ground. He took an incredibly strong elbow hit in the middle of his back that crashed him to the ground, knocking all air out. The beast he had stabbed disappeared in a puff of smoke. Another massive hand dropped on the back of his head, squashing his face into a pool of mud. His sword still in his hand, he swirled it violently over himself, cutting the chakra arms. He heaved himself up, coughing and retching mud and blood, wiped his eyes with his forearm. He turned around.

The demon fox was ten feet away, unmoving. It was trembling all over. The two arms he had chopped were very slowly returning to the body. That’s when he noticed they were a shiny gold. Was the Hokage still conscious ? He could be. He was no teen anymore and there was the definite possibility for him to be able to withstand much more of Kyuubi’s chakra. That would explain the duplicate fox.

“Naruto ?”

The golden arms were back into the body.

“Naruto ! Fight ! Fight back ! You are the FUCKING HOKAGE !”

The eighth tail emerged. The fox stopped trembling altogether.

“NARUTOOOO !”

The beast looked at him and shook its head from side to side. It started to walk towards the raven.

“Why are you doing this ? Why, Kurama ?”

The fox locked his gaze on the black-haired ninja and once again signalled no with its head. The animal lifted a paw and gently, though causing instantly small burns, poked Sasuke twice on the chest. The Uchiha stayed still, as he was trying to figure out what the beast was telling him, but it wasn’t making much sense. He waited, maybe there was more to it, but hard to deliver in this shape. The fox resumed running after its tails.

“Stop with the crazy act, bonehead !”

The beast froze and emitted a powerful cry mixed with rage and despair. It hissed, went low on its four paws as if submissive or afraid and disappeared into the forest, running wild again. The clouded sky was so dark by then, the heavy rain pounding the ground, that the raven presumed that it was late in the evening. He followed that little flame dancing in the night, appearing and disappearing in between trees until it would not reappear. The black-haired ninja’s guts twisted. He could still feel it, but it seemed to have sought refuge, hiding somewhere and going deeper and deeper into its hideout as the force of its chakra was weakening. The Uchiha kept pushing forward and sighed, as his sense of the enormous chakra was getting stronger. The forest cleared. Out in the open there was nothing else than the rain hammering water. He was on the shore of a lake. He sensed the nine-tails chakra right in the middle of it. Was it trying to trick him to dive in it ?

The centre of the lake began to glow in a bright yellow, surrounded by angry red and circled by dark purple. The water started boiling. The ground all around Sasuke trembled in powerful waves, pulsing through the earth, creating gashes all around him. A deafening underwater explosion echoed against the forest edge, lightening all of the surrounding, followed by a second of eerie silence. At once, the lake’s water shot up, going in all direction. The raven was engulfed by the oppressing strength, taking multiple collisions with trees, rocks, the ground, before hitting his head.

He woke up vomiting so much water, for a moment he thought he was still a prisoner of the waves. But as his dizzy mind, hurting lungs, scraped throat and cracked lips were starting to make sense of it, he realized he had survived the flood. He let himself fall flat, overwhelmed by exhaustion and his body aching all over. He lied there for some time, under the blazing sun, before his brain started to pick up the scrapes of yesterday’s events. He first tried to sit up, wincing at his charred wrist, taking in his throbbing migraine. He took in his surroundings. He was back on the shore of the lake. How the hell was that possible ? The waves should’ve transported him way into the trees. He turned his head, the edge of the forest had been completely uprooted. The soil around him was wet, the land all around flooded. He got up slowly, knees shaking. To his left, there was a crater, where the lake used to be. There was something in the middle of it. Sasuke’s heart and breathing went frantic. He became oblivious to his pain.

He limped his way to the pit, slid down to the bottom of it. He got up, running slowly and awkwardly. As he got close, he slowed down, not making sense of what his eyes were telling him. He stopped as he got to be confronted to his denial.

Naruto was lying motionless in the centre of the crater. He was naught but blood. Was there even skin left on his body ? The raven looked at his body intently. His Kage was not regenerating, not showing signs of healing.

“I knew both were getting under each other’s skin, but I never thought you’d actually skinned the fox to break the bond, Sasuke.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to hear what you have been thinking or what you think of the story so far ! Bad or good reviews are always a fantastic way to improve as an author.
> 
> I am just trying to figure out if it's any good. :)
> 
> I think every author wants their story to be good, but that would be a good wake up call if I had a tons of critics saying how shitty it is ! :)


	16. Deranged teen

Over the years, she had learned to comprehend what was happening to her. She could not fully control it yet, but she kept on being hopeful that with time, she would be. She was having another of those moments : her soul had jumped out of its vessel. It kept happening every now and then, but she had a hard time adjusting to it, as she would forget everything about her travels when she regained her body. Every time it happened, she was instantaneously teleported thousands and thousands of kilometres away, on the other side of the world. She would always found herself next to him. They were teens now, they were approximately of the same age, but that seemed to be the only thing they had in common. Over the years, she had come to know him, but he had never noticed her presence as anybody else for that matter.

She had come to accept this form of reality, into which she was only a spectator, where she could not interact with others. At least, most of the time, she was able to hear. There were still moments when all sounds were suppressed by a heavy humming. She had quickly realized that she was deaf every time he was in an emotional turmoil. She didn’t know why his emotions had such an impact on her experience. She could never speak to him directly as he did not hear her. However, she had come to notice that if she sat close to him and whisper in his ear, she could influence what he was doing.

She thought of herself as a guardian angel. She tried to cheer him up ; he was such a depressed person. There was never anyone around him when he was home. She was always called to his side when he sat alone in his room. Apart from the first time she had ever seen him, little boy thrashing in the streets, they had never left his room. As he never spoke to anybody when she was there, she didn’t even know his name. She didn’t really mind, as she would’ve not been able to say it. Whenever he muttered, it had been in an incomprehensible language.

She thought he was handsome. He was always wearing clothes bearing the same symbol, something that looked like a red and white lollipop. It must’ve not been that, since it would’ve been a bit ridiculous. She could not ask him questions though. As the years went by, his eyes changed and made her doubt about her travelling capacity. Was she able to travel through space and onto other worlds ? Was she into another dimension, as she had imagined as a child ? She had laughed at her own stupidity when she understood that he was wearing very expensive contact lenses.

She concentrated on one of his sulky eyes at a time. The right one was normal most of the time, but he would put a red lens with an ellipse marked by commas. The left one was downright creepy, psychedelic even, being entirely purple, with no pupil and bearing several circles, like ripples. For the moment, he kept his eyes tightly shut, as he was too preoccupied with bashing his head against the wall.


	17. The Hideout

Sai had cast giant eagles from his scroll to take them down to the bottom of the ravine. There was nobody there, no sign of impact ; no trace of blood and more importantly, Aoimaru and Kiba had lost Shino’s scent on the way down. They mounted the drawn birds again and went back up. The pup, who was in an inside pocket of his master’s flak jacket, barked halfway to the top. The dog trainer had smelled him too, but there was nothing there. The Aburame’s essence was emanating from the bough of a tree that was seemingly growing on the cliff.

“What is it, Kiba ?” asked Sakura.

“Well, Shino’s scent is definitely on this branch, but neither Aoimaru nor I can sense where he went after that.”

It seemed highly improbable that there would be a tree for Shino to catch, exactly where he had fallen. He had then jumped on his own accord. But then, where had he gone next ? Nobody could hide their smell ; only rain and time could erase it. The painter opened a scroll, drew a snake that he dropped off on the bough. The serpent went along it, vanished behind the leaves settled against the cliff and came back not long after. The former Root member picked it up and placed it back on the scroll. The animal melted into ink, putting in words what it had discovered.

“There is a passageway behind the tree leaves.”

“Shino has a secret hideout, which has a camouflaged entrance ?” inquired incredulously the pink-haired woman.

They all looked at each other without saying a word.

“He is a very enigmatic man,” pointed out Sai.

“This is so cool ! It feels so… so… ninja like !” said Kiba.

“We. Are. Ninjas. Dumbass,” muttered the kunoichi. “Could this be a setup ? To lure us in ?”

“Why would he lure us into a trap ?” questioned the dog trainer.

“Why would he have a secluded hideout that nobody knows about ?” confronted Sakura.

“Well, it is still just Shino against the three of us,” observed the painter.

“What if the entrance was trapped ?” pointed out the leader of the team.

“If it was, my snake would’ve triggered it or detected it,” stated the stoic ninja.

“OK, then. Let’s just make sure this is Shino’s hideout and only Shino’s. Kiba, you have concentrated your chakra as to only follow him. How about you tell us if you smell any other people making use of this entrance ?” ordered the Hurano.

The Inuzuka blocked the entomologist’s scent, that was overpowering all others. One by one, he blocked all of the other essences, which were numerous out in the open, as to only perceive a human presence. His jaw dropped. He looked at Aoimaru who nervously licked his master’s chin.”

“How many ?” asked Sai.

“Oooooh… it is not how many. There is only one other person that came through that entrance.”

“Who ?” inquired Sakura.

“… Hinata.”

A thick tension fell over all of their shoulders.

“But she did not come here of her own accord…”

The dog trainer looked at his peers, not believing what he was about to say.

“Shino has her under his bugs control.”

There was a moment of silence. The Hyuuga’s scent was nearly completely overridden by the Aburame’s. Stupor hit him when he understood what his nose was telling him. The Byakugan user’s scent was parcelled into thousands of pieces by crawlers’ scent.

“Are you absolutely certain about this ?” questioned the leader.

“Shino was my teammate. I would recognize his technique anywhere. There is no doubt in my mind.”

“We need to tell Shikamaru right away. Sai, give him the coordinates of this hideout that we presumed is used by Shino. Point out that we have discovered that Hyuuga Hinata has been here, placed under the control of the Aburame’s insects. According to that, our mission’s goal change, not only do we have to find him, but we need to rescue the Kage’s wife who has seemingly been taken as a hostage,” dictated the pink-haired woman.

Sai took out a scroll and a brush and painted a carrier pigeon, which he sent to the village. The painter then jumped from his eagle onto the branch, followed by his two fellow ninjas. The winged animals disappeared at once. The impassive shinobi tossed the leaves out of his way : there was the tiny entrance. The former Root member went first, the others waiting for him to make sure the passageway was clear.

A little white drawn mouse showed itself. They had the confirmation they could come in. If the animal had been gray, it would’ve meant that the painter was all right, but that it wasn’t safe for them to come at this moment and had to wait for another rodent. If it had been black, it would’ve meant that they had to flee and come back with reinforcements. After a couple of minutes, they were all standing in a roughly carved corridor with a hemlock door at the end. Kiba pressed his ear against the wooden panel. The former Root member unrolled a scroll and drew multiple mice that went under the threshold. After half an hour, most of them had not come back. The Inuzuka had concentrated his chakra into his ear and was continually signalling that he could not hear a single thing except for the tiny feet of the mice. Finally, when all the rodents had come back, they dissolved into ink and chaligraphed that the place was empty.

The dog trainer opened the door. They entered a vast empty room surrounded by five doors. Kiba concentrated the chakra to his nose. He was, once again, stunned by what he sensed.

“Who else was here ?” urged the leader of the team.

“… Sasuke.”

Aoimaru barked in approval.

Sakura did not seem to understand, as she remained impassive. She turned her head to look at the many doors. She went to the first one on her left and opened it. It seemed to be an operating room ; as there were many monitors, an operating table, medical tools and a large mirror in one of the corners. There were a few dried up drops of blood on the floor that had felt from an intravenous line still hanging on the side of the operating table. On the other side of it, a glass was shattered on the ground. Many plastic shreds lingered around and there was a massive amount of brown hairs on and around the head of the table, as if someone had been completely shaved. Other than that, there were no signs of life, as all the machines were off.

Neither of them entered the room. The kunoichi let the dog trainer use his technique, so he could tell them who had been in the room, before investigating herself and therefore, corrupting the scents that lingered there.

“Shino seemed to have been here quite a lot. Sasuke has been in here also, a couple of days ago. I would say, two to three days max.”

“You are mistaken ! Sasuke is with the Hokage,” spat Sakura.

“Look, I know you must be upset. I know it doesn’t make sense. I am not analyzing here, I am only stating the facts. If there is a thing for what an Inuzuka is never wrong is a scent,” answered a placid Kiba.

She did not retaliate ; as she knew, her teammate was right. He had a sense of humour she did not especially like, but she knew better than to doubt his ninja skills. As he was looking intently at the operating table, his eyes widen and his ears turned a dark red. Aoimaru whined, confused.

“What is it ?” she asked.

“Nothing… I become very aware of myself when people stare at me…” he entered the room and approached the operating table. “For fuck’s sake.”

“What is it ?” asked Sakura.

“Teeth and nails. Complete fucking teeth and nails on the floor. They… they are all there… They were all taken out, the thirty-two teeth and the twenty nails. This is so sick.”

“It’s a torture room,” said matter-o-factly Sai.

Kiba crouched, shuddered from head to toe before sniffing what was on the ground. He then put both his hands over his nose, his chin tucked by his thumbs. He breathed in and out. He had to clear his voice a couple of times before talking.

“They are Shino’s… The hair, the teeth, the nails, even this… what the fuck is that ? Even this dried up snakeshit skin. Why does it have his scent ? … What… is… that ?” The dog trainer put a hand to the floor and got his head near the ground examining something that was there. He tried to hurriedly get up and felt backwards. “Motherfu…”

“What is it ?” inquired the pink-haired woman.

“A dried-up eye. Shino’s scent, again. What has happened here ? … I’m done. Shino and Sasuke, that’s it. You’re the medic ninja, so, you should go and have a look at what you can get about what happened in here.”

The Hurano entered the room. The Inuzuka took a couple of steps back, gripping the stoic ninja by the arm. The painter offered him his gonna-spoon-your-eye-out smile.

“What are you hiding from her ?”

“Sai, you’ve got to help me here. I cannot tell Sakura myself. She will think I am messing with her.”

“You want me to be the messenger. That is what friends do for one another.”

“Thank you. I owe…”

“But are we friends, you and I ?”

“What are you talking about ?”

“You’ve got a problem, pal ? Well, Kiba to yourself.”

The stunned and helpless look on the Inuzuka’s face was worth it. The dog trainer dragged his feet back to the door of the torture room. The medic ninja had opened a cabinet, which contained the Aburame’s clothes. She pointed them to him, brows furrowed.

“Sakura-chan …”

She looked at him. He walked to her, bitting his inferior lip. He began whispering what he had discovered. Sai watched the scene evolved. When he had finished talking, the Inuzuka protected his torso and abdomen with his forearms and backed his head while turning it to his right, closing his left eye and hiding his neck into his shoulders.

“Couldn’t Shino’s bugs explained the mixed chakra ?”

Relieved he was not getting hit, Kiba relaxed a bit, uncertain.

“I know Shino’s technique. I recognized it right away outside with Hinata. Here, both of their chakras are completely intertwined. They were both... on the table… at the same time.”

“Couldn’t have one of them given a heart massage to the other ?”

“I… Sakura-san… It is very difficult for me to tell you this, so I beg of you : try to stop denying it, so I don’t have to say it out loud. There is only one and only one possible explanation for people’s scent to be… fused like this.”

The kunoichi had to fight back tears. “You are mistaken…”

She left the room, feeling nauseated and took the first door on her left. The view offered to her was very much the distraction she needed. There was a long corridor with multiple cells and one opened door.

“Whatever room you opened, stay there, there is a new scent coming from there !”

The dog trainer went to the medic ninja’s side. He squinted his eyes.

“Male… grown man... I could not say more. Aoimaru ?”

The puppy’s head ticked to the side, tongue out and emitted a short whined, meaning he had nothing more to add. The Inuzuka went in and faced the first cell.

“Hinata was in here. Both Shino and Sasuke came up to here, in front of her cell, but none of them actually went into it. Then, they left all together through the door I just came in.” Kiba lifted his head and nose, Aoimaru imitating him. “Hinata did not go anywhere else. She was submitted to Shino’s bugs and was in this cell for all of her stay here.” He started to walk down the corridor. “Shino’s scent is everywhere in this place. Sasuke’s been to the stash here and he went to this cell… where the farmer I was talking about was held prisoner it seems… And… Shino’s scent is… intertwined with the farmer’s.” All there was for the Inuzuka to think about was that the quiet ones really were the biggest perverts.

The dog trainer retraced his steps out into the first room they had been in. He opened another door, which led to a bedroom, another one which led to a bathroom and the final door led to a long corridor to which they could not see the end, but Kiba knew it led to another entrance : Hinata’s, Shino’s and Sasuke’s scents all went through it.

“Look, only one bedroom and the whole place’s impregnated with Shino’s scent, like an owner’s into his house. Shino’s been here for a couple of years. For Hinata and Sasuke, I would say it was a once and only visit. … This is so fucked up.”

“What about the other man ?” questioned Sai.

“He’s been here, in his cell, for a long time. I cannot say when he entered, the trace of his scent has completely disappeared.”

“Did he leave with the other three ?” asked Sakura.

“No. He stayed in his cell.”

“What do you mean ?” pressed the team leader.

“That… he stayed in his cell.”

“If he had stayed in his cell Kiba-san, he would be in the cell,” pointed out the painter.

Incredulous, Kiba went back to the man’s cell searching frantically. The other two followed. He sniffed the air all around the corridor, he found naught.

“What are you looking for ?” inquired the medic ninja.

“A secret exit.”

“A secret exit… in a cell ?” she asked skeptically.

“I know it doesn’t make sense, but that would explain why the scent didn’t leave the cell. Because, here it is, lingering and mixed with Shino’s essence.”

He put Aoimaru down who sniffed every inch of the floor and came back to his master, jumping, tail wiggling, something in his mouth. The dog trainer crouched, offering an open hand for the puppy. The hound dropped a phial in his master’s hand.

“Oh, you smell that boy ?” He put the opened bottle under the dog’s nose.

“That contained blood. Shino’s blood… Why a phial of his own blood ?”

“I don’t know, but our top priority now is to follow Hinata’s scent. As she seems to still be with Shino,” affirmed Sakura.

They went back and through the door that led to the main entrance. They walked for at least fifteen minutes. They stayed silent. They had so many questions and the scenes they had witnessed were far too disturbing. They hit a dead end, an enormous boulder blocking the way. One punch from the kunoichi sent it to crumble. Daylight pierced through the darnes, they were blind for a couple of seconds, before moving out. Kiba breathed in, getting rid of Shino’s overwhelming smell. As he did, a strong familiar essence invaded his nose.

“There is a colony of kikaichus very near.”

“What are those ?” inquired Sai.

“Shino’s first bugs.”

The Aburame clan did not make themselves hosts of insects you could find just by strolling in the forest. They had selected very specific types that only their clan knew how to find. No other ninja had stumbled upon a colony of insects the entomologists were hosting. The dog trainer followed the scent, Sakura and Sai right behind him. Fewer than two hundred metres away, they found the colony. The habitat it had built was a mix between a cathedral termite mound, a beehive and a silk cocoon. The structure was quite spectacular. As they were observing nature at work, their eyes getting accustomed to the intricate details of the kikaichus at work, they began to notice irregularities, strange shapes and colours that were standing out. Aoimaru started to howl.

“Do you see it ?” asked Kiba.

The other two did not answer. There were human bones scattered all over the kikaichus habitat.


	18. Honour

The raven’s shoulders tensed as goosebumps travelled all the way from his calves to his head. He swallowed, hating himself for having been surprised by a presence. He turned around. He was quite pissed. Why would one show at this precise moment ? Although, for it to be there, right now, rendered the whole situation much clearer.

“You… did this…”

“Me ?” It had a feeble laugh and coughed. “Really Sasuke-kun… Don’t you see the state I’m in ? And you know we clones cannot do that…”           

It was obvious it was very weak. Its breathing was raspy and short, it was bleeding from its right ear and its gaze was not locked on the Uchiha, but rather a bit over his head, as if blind. It seemed to have lost a great amount of weight and had trouble standing still. Its hands would not stop trembling, its lips were dry and cracked and tufts of hair were missing off its scalp. It was wearing an all-white kimono, which was strangely splendid on its battered body.

“What do you want ?”

“So much anger, haven’t you outgrown it ?”

“You’re the clone of a twisted psychopath.”

“Aaaaah… but I am here to give you closure. I ask of you to be my kaishakunin.”

Hence the white kimono.

“How is your death gonna give me closure when another of you, filthy creations, is going to show up fuck knows when ?”

“You may end my misery knowing that I am the last one. Didn’t any of the clones tell you there were four of us ?”

The Rinnegan bearer’s eyes widened as he remembered very well the words of the last clone. Although, it seemed that it was not death that the thing had promised, but four encounters, four clones[1]. “My Hokage was tortured for endless hours, which I am sure you are to be accounted for, and you beg for my mercy ?”

“If you accept, I will save the fox kid…”

Sasuke turned around to look at the flayed blond. The horrifying vision struck him. “How did you know I was here ?”

“I’ve been looking for you. I have acquired many great skills in chakra sensing. Although, they were mostly unnecessary with the night’s demonstration.”

“Why have you been searching for me ?”

“I trust no other than you to keep my honour safe.”

The raven’s teeth clenched. “How do you know I would do so after you’ve healed the Hokage ?”

“I don’t.”

“What If I don’t trust you ?”

“Then the fox dies in the next minutes you are so eager to lose talking…”

The Uchiha flexed his fists. He knew something wasn’t right, but he was not versed in medical ninjutsu and Naruto desperately needed help. Why wasn’t he healing ?

“You save him. I make sure he is fine, and then, only if I am absolutely sure he is out of danger, I’ll do my part.”

“It is a deal Sasuke-kun.”

The feeble clone walked slowly and with much difficulty to the Uzumaki. He had to take a slight pause between each step. When he was beside the blond, the raven had to lend it a hand so it could kneel by his side. The Konoha’s spy pulled out his sword, ready to make use of it. A smile formed on the copy’s lips.

“I need DNA to perform the jutsu.”

It put a frail trembling hand on the blond’s forehead. With its other hand it snatched a few hairs. It put the tuft on the Hokage’s chest and put its right hand over it. It closed its eyes, assembling the little of chakra it had left.

“Hebi no dappi no jutsu !”

A seal appeared all around its hand and over Naruto’s body. The seventh’s skin immediately started to regenerate. Sasuke was not subjected to any emotion. He hadn’t even had the time to process his state of shock. His friend’s exposed muscles were only a surreal image, a horrifying painting, on which another layer was added. As the skin had completely regrown, the Kage seemed asleep.

“He won’t come around for a couple of hours,” said the caster of the jutsu.

It asked for the Uchiha’s hand to help it rise up and painfully took a couple of steps back. The raven kneeled to Naruto’s side. He put his ear on his torso, listening to the pounding of his heart. He put his hand on his forehead to make sure there was no fever. The roots of his blond hairs were tangled up in knots of dried blood. The Sharingan user reached one of his pouches and got a small bottle out. He poured his last drops of water into the Kage’s mouth. The seventh lifted his torso into a seating position.

“Hinata !”

He fell flat on his back, into unconsciousness. Sasuke winced as he had forgotten about her disappearance. The clone was a few feet away, on its knees. It had put a white cloth under itself and was waiting for the raven, eyes closed, a kozuka placed in front of it. The Uchiha went behind the fake white snake. It got a small bottle out from its kimono. The Uchiha snatched it.

“Relax, Sasuke-kun. It is only sake.”

The Rinnegan user sniffed the content and recognized the scent. He gave it back to its owner who drank the content in four sips. Sasuke was utterly disgusted. Orochimaru and his clones had had no respect whatsoever for any kind of code and had desacralized everything about being a shinobi. But on the brink of death, it would follow the rules of a ceremonial seppuku.

“Will you be offering the world a jisei, then ?” asked ironically the raven.

“Death poems are mere delusion – death is death.”

“Hn…”

The clone opened his kimono, exposing his abdomen. It took the kozuka with one shaking hand, unsheathe it with another trembling one and set the sheath on its side.

“It is an honour to die by your hand, Sasuke-kun. The pupil surpassed the master.”

The Uchiha cringed. He was furious. Why would he talk as if they had a meaningful relationship ? They had only used each other. What could honour meant to him ?

The fake man didn’t even take a last breath before driving the dagger into the left side of its stomach and drawing it across to the right. Warm blood poured over its hands, the white kimono and the cloth under it. The raven knew the dying fiend was fighting a new kind of pain. He bent over and put his lips close the man’s ears.

“I will not release you from your agony until you go through with jumongi giri.”

To Sasuke’s surprise, it summoned the strength to smirk. It turned its head to meet the Uchiha’s eyes with its blind ones, twisted the blade and brought it upward. A gush blood poured, its eyes glittering in pain. The raven got up, putting his sword high. Even in death, the clone thought it was superior.

“There was no honour in being submitted to the will of your creator and you will meet no honour through death by my sword.”

The blade went down with brute force, severing body and head, which grotesquely rolled on the ground. The Rinnegan bearer took a few steps back, feeling relieved. A forgotten weight he had been carrying, suddenly lifting. He dropped the sword on the ground, transfixed by the pool of blood forming under the clone’s body. He stayed like that, contemplating the catharsis of his adolescence. He could feel it ; it had been the last of them. A twitch in Naruto’s right foot brought him back into the moment. He didn’t know how long his Kage would be out of it, so he covered him with his cape, put the blond over his shoulder and carried him deep into the woods. He wanted to find shelter and to get as far as possible from the haunting remnant of the snake.

When he was absolutely sure that Sasuke was far enough, Shino, hiding behind the trunk of an enormous rooted tree, got up and ran to the decapitated body. He had to grab it firmly with both his hands and give it a sudden and violent twist to turn it around, as it was hard to get a good grip on it. It was slimy and very slippery due to the skin shedding ; the dead membrane falling onto the ground leaving a layer of mucus on the body. The force used to put it on its back, allowed the eviscerated abdomen to spill its guts. He opened one by one the tightly closed fingers on the dagger, which fell on the ground. He took the tuft of blond hairs glued by blood onto the palm of the hand. The entomologist then raised both hands and ordered the mazokus back with him. The insects, which had grown two to four times the size they had, having eaten a person from the inside out, would not be able to fit all into the Aburame’s body. Half of the colony lingered flying around him, creating a dark cloud that made him invisible to the oblivious. He ran back to his summoner.

As the raven put the seventh on the ground, sheltered under a tree, he cursed himself for having forgotten his sword. He gathered branches, to hide the Kage from view. He then remembered he had put Naruto’s ANBU mask in a hidden pocket of his cape. He put it on the blond’s face. He then went back on his tracks. As he a reached for his sword, he threw one last look at the beheaded corpse. Fear jolted through his body as it was now lying on its back, facing the sky, in a pool of blood, bowels and what seemed like a human-sized snake’s moulting. The left hand that had been holding the dagger, now laid open.

As he got near the corpse, his mind went numb and his mouth dry. The hand was small and delicate, the skin paler and shining with goo. The entire body seemed to have shrunk. His breathing became frantic, his heart pulsing panic through his entire body. The expose torso revealed two female breasts. He was paralyzed for a few seconds. He slowly turned on his left, laying his gaze on the head a couple of feet away. He walked towards it with great apprehension. It was hidden under twice the number of hairs it had when beheaded. He sat down, hyperventilating ; he took out a shaking hand. He closed his eyes and had to breathe in and out a couple of times to master his anguish. With teeth clenched and burning eyes, he searched for the human traits putting aside locks and locks of long black hair, most of them staying intertwined between his fingers, having fallen from the head. A nose appeared, seemingly hanging. The skin was falling off with a sickening slimy sound. He could not fight the silent tears as he pulled back the dark silken hair over the cheek and detached completely the rest of Orochimaru’s face from the head.

He gulped. The figure seemed familiar but was very hard to recognize, all covered in shiny mucus. The mouth was wide open, full of teeth, some falling to the ground, all of them growing back. He was transfixed by this horrifying vision, the face morbidly grotesque, as the yellow predator eyes were popping out of their orbit, being pushed out and falling to the ground. Eyes without pupils replaced them. All air vanished from his lungs as if he had been powerfully punched in the abdomen. His traits were deformed by a silent scream. He bent his head backwards, searching for the air he could not take in. He grabbed locks of his hair, pulled and proceeded to scratch his face with his nails. As he took a long, hoarse breath, he was submitted to a violent gag reflex, before shrieking in madness.

 

[1] In most of Asia, including Japan, the number four and the word death have a very similar pronunciation. Thus, the number four and death are commonly associated. It is regarded as unlucky, just like the number thirteen in western cultures. Elevators will often not have a number fourth floor.


	19. Nothing

It had been a bit extreme, but it had been so much fun. It had only been a small bird ; he went overboard with it using for the first time his attack skills with his new eyes. He could’ve not restrained himself. He was sitting under a ray of light, profusely delighted and gleeing like a little boy – he was nearly one. He didn’t care for the tears of blood on his cheeks, he did not even notice the headache. He knew his sight would come back gradually and was pleased to discover a blurry world with no colours. On a tree some thirty feet away, a little messenger had been pined down with a Susanoo arrow. It had not been a living thing, it had not screeched or shown any kind of pain. But he had put an end to it from afar, just like for the Hyuuga girl.

He had invaded the edo tensei’s mind as soon as Hinata and Shino had reached the used to be lake. It had been such a reinvigorating moment, he had had trouble to contain his pure joy, to control an outburst of delight. It had been such a rich experience : feeling what was happening through the mazokus. Using the chakra uniting the Aburame and the colony, the bugs were retransmitting the Original words in a harmonious buzz deciphered by the entomologist’s brain. Inhabiting the edo tensei allowed him to cast his snake moulting jutsu to regrow Naruto’s skin through the Byakugan bearer, using the flow of chakra linking her to Shino. A part of the colony stayed with their host, recreating the scene in miniature for the far away summoner to visualize. Hinata had been so weak by then, having lost most of her brain’s cognition that only a fraction of the colony was necessary to control her. The girl was barely alive, merely an envelope, when they had gotten to the lake. She had suffered quite much in the last days and he had the tiniest disappointment thinking that she probably didn’t feel a thing as she committed seppuku. The colony of insects had damaged her brain in an extensive way.

It had been a moment of grand beauty and poetry, the insects moving in unison : as the girl, as the dagger, as the Original’s sword, as the body falling and the head rolling. He had been moved by the play and had shed a tear and soundlessly applauded them when the bugs interpreting the Hyuuga stopped buzzing altogether as to signify her death. He had been eager to find out if the Original would discover who had really died by his hand. It had been a bit of a let down when he realized that the fox kid had been too much of a preoccupation for the little bird to stay behind and watch the skin shed and reveal the true body. But he got lucky, as the edo tensei was running through the forest, piercing cries echoed. He had laughed giddily.

He could not have been there in person ; he had known the hideout would have visitors and he needed to take care of them. They had found the entrance in the cliff, they had sent a pigeon, which he put down, they took their time visiting the place, they had been out and discovered a piece of nature’s own morbid art. The conversation that ensued had been terribly funny.

“This cannot be Shino !” exclaimed Sakura.

“I cannot affirm it myself, as this person has been dead for too long. However, Aoimaru can still get his scent from the remains. Therefore, it is him,” explained Kiba.

“Could the insects have devoured his flesh, transforming him from a corpse to bones in a couple of days ?” asked the pink-haired girl.

“Maybe… but his bones are intertwined with the nest and that, the insects did not build in a few days,” answered the Inuzuka.

“Then who was in the village ?” inquired the Hurano incredulously.

“Nobody can maintain appearances for this long. Even Naruto could not hold a bunshin so long. It took years for him to master the art of the dolphin clone, where he keeps a part of his brain awake whilst he sleeps so the bunshin doesn’t disappear. Still, it is such an effort that he cannot maintain the jutsu more than a few days,” thought Sai out loud.

“I don’t know how it was done, but since Shino was dead all along, that would explain Hinata. There is no motive to explain Shino casting his insects to control her. It makes much more sense with an imposter in the village,” affirmed the dog trainer.

“Or it is simply easier to accept,” rebuked Sai. “Because, not only this spy would have portrayed Shino perfectly, but he would also be able to make use of techniques only the Aburame are known to use…”

“The many clan techniques are kept as secrets, but are not kekkei genkai. A skillful and determined ninja would be able to make use of them. I admit that only very resourceful, not to say extraordinary shinobis can master skills it took generations for a family to refine… but it is not impossible,” pointed out Kiba.

“But you said it yourself, Shino’s scent is fresh and everywhere in the hideout and even leaving out into the forest,” argued the painter.

The Inuzuka stayed silent for a moment. Sakura had turned around and seemed lost into her thoughts. The dog trainer took out from one of his pockets the phial Aoimaru had found in the cell.

“Well, our scent does linger onto us even after death,” analyzed Kiba.

“You mean to say a revenant is walking this earth ?” teased Sai.

“More or less. Someone, Sasuke most likely, cast an edo tensei using Shino’s blood and the farmer’s body as a corporeal envelope,” theorized the Inuzuka.

The dog trainer showed the tiny bottle to his teammate. The medic ninja’s head lifted. The painter was astonished for a brief second and continue arguing :

“That would be a good explanation as to why Shino’s scent can still be found as of now, but it does not explain why it lingered in the village and up to the hideout, as the edo tensei had not been cast then.”

“Well… If taking all of your teeth out would be a formidable torture, I don’t think that shaving anyone’s head is. There is a possibility someone used a jutsu we do not know of to pretend to be Shino. This someone has now abandoned this pretense, is highly skilled and is working with Sasuke, only another overboard-talented ninja… We have to request backups,” exposed Kiba.

Sakura turned around and looked at both her teammates. “What… What if Sasuke’s scent downstairs was also one of an imposter ?” she asked miserably hopeful.

“Well… we cannot rule out any hypothesis as of now,” answered the painter. He took out a scroll and a paintbrush. “What do we tell Konoha ?”

“That we have found Shino’s remains. That we have determined that Hyuuga Hinata has been taken as a hostage by two people masquerading the scent of Sasuke and Shino. For the safety of the Hokage’s wife and due to the unknown abilities of the kidnappers, we require two more ANBU teams as to back us up,” dictated the leader.

Sai looked at the kunoichi. Kiba chose not too. Someone was pretending to be Shino, but they had no proof whatsoever that it was the case for the raven. However, as it was probable and as there was no evidence of the opposite the painter did not object and wrote the report as told, including coordinates, using a code the Nara had come up with.

As another bird was sent by the search party, he ran after it, to put it down. The three-team shinobis then retracted to a safer distance from the hideout, establishing camp. The dog trainer was the first assigned as a look out.

It was late in the night when the edo tensei finally got back to his summoner. He gave him the lock of blond hairs he had taken from Hinata’s hand. His caster performed the signs to create Kage bunshins. Two appeared beside him. He then put the hand in which he held the Kage’s hairs onto one of his bunshin’s chest.

“Hebi no dappi no jutsu.”

A new skin started to grow on the replicate as its hair were falling and regrowing a very light colour, eyes popping out of their sockets, teeth falling like rotten fruits. The whole process took less than a minute, and they had a Naruto in the summoner’s clothes. The caster opened the satchel he had been carrying for the last days and got out the Kage coat and hat and gave them to the duplicate Uzumaki. The disguised bunshin undressed and put on the clothes that were handed to him. With no further ado, both replicates dashed through the forest leaving Shino and his master. The latter was not like Naruto, he didn’t need to talk to his replicates. One knew it had to run as fast as possible to get to the Leaf, before Shikamaru would get suspicious and take control of Konoha. The other one had to meet with the Original.

Still silent, the summoner put the blond lock of hairs inside a pocket and started to walk towards the camp the rescue team had settled, the dead Aburame following. Once they were near enough, the edo tensei released his insects in three distinct groups, sending them crawling to their next victims. It was late in the night. Sai and Kiba were asleep, the latter having Aoimaru curled in a ball on his chest. It was Sakura’s turn to be on the lookout. He licked his front teeth, already tasting the vile pleasure he would take from her. When Shino acknowledged that the two males and the animal were under his control, the summoner got up. Only a small number of bugs had been crawling into her brain as to keep her from thinking logically. The rescue team had formulated a hypothesis about a fake Sasuke after all. He went around the tree where the Uchiha’s wife was sitting. He stopped to look at her from behind. He was a bit disappointed. He felt nothing. There was no excitement, no exhilaration, no heart pounding, no pleasure, very much nothing. The caster’s body was not responding at all to the image of his spouse. They had been married for many years now, maybe he had to engage things as to make the magic happen. He whispered the kunoichi’s name in a smoky murmur.

She straightened her back and turned around. First surprised, her features showed relief and ferocious passion as she set her gaze upon him. She was barely able to whisper his name. Sakura was taken aback. The sight of her husband, looking intently at her, mesmerized her. Her heart was pounding fast in her chest and her jaw slightly dropped, completely in awe. In the light of the fire, most of his features hidden by the pitch-black night, Sasuke looked like he was seventeen. She was struck by this unlikely appearance that brought her back to her own teenage years. She shivered, something dark lurked in his eyes, something savage, something awfully frightening that had been killed by Naruto in the Valley of the End.

He walked over to her. She could not move or take her eyes off the raven. She could not even disengage his fiery gaze. He put a hand under her chin and made her get up. She smiled, sad and happy at the same time. He gently caressed her cheek with the back of his hand, put a lock of pink hair behind her ear. She closed her eyes and put her hand over her husband’s. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled her scent. Sakura shivered. He licked the line of her jugular vein. She slightly moaned, surprised. She bit her bottom lip unconsciously as he was locking his dark eyes into hers. He ticked his head to the side and flashed a grin. He took a step forward ; she stepped back against the trunk of a tree. He pressed his body against hers, locking his hips on hers, his left thigh over her right one. She swallowed hard. He traced the contour of her bottom lip ; the tip of his finger brushing the wet surface of the interior of her mouth. Her breathing fastened. He caressed the Hurano’s lips with his own before giving her one slow and sweet kiss. She let slide one silent tear. He disengaged ever so slightly from her, to look at this panting wife of his.

“I do have complete power over you… You are pathetic,” he told himself more than to her.

A glimpse of confusion went by in her eyes, but she didn’t have time to make sense of it, as he launched himself onto her. He grabbed her hairs with both hands, kissed her forcefully, his tongue dominating her mouth. He grabbed her breasts tossing aside the flak jacket, feeling underneath her clothes the hard nipples. He clutched the cheeks of her butt, he scratched her thighs and he bit her lips. She refused him nothing and only seemed to want more. She moaned lustily as he slid fingers over her pulsating wet flower. He backed away, absolutely pissed.

“Nothing… absolutely nothing… No… It’s not true… There is… a small… but clear note of disgust,” he muttered, incredulous.

She looked at him, breathing hard, baffled by her husband’s behaviour. His sight followed the line of her curves without seeing them and dropped to the ground. He lazily shook his head from right to left. He exhaled and pouted.

“Sasuke ?”

He brutally shut her up with an uppercut to the stomach and sent her unconscious with a vicious hook on her left temple.


	20. Merry-go-round

The blond woke up, relaxed after a prolonged dreamless sleep. He was calm, serene, as the environment surrounding him. His train of thoughts was blurry, enveloped in warm slumber. He did not open his eyes, only wanting to prolong the state he was in.

“Naruto ?”

Hinata was calling him with her soft caring voice. He opened one eye, she was there, her face close to his, beautiful like ever. Her hair shining in the sunlight, her fair skin beaming and her eyes sparkling. She laughed and the sound echoed in the Uzumaki’s mind.

“Wake up, sleepy head…”

He smiled. He knew he probably had to get up, the sun was high in the sky, but he could not remember the last time he had gotten up late. There was a time, many years ago, when he would snooze the morning away. He caught his girlfriend by the waist, tugged her to his side, hugging her.

“Today, we are taking the morning off,” he muttered.

“I wish I could stay.”

She kissed him on the forehead. He locked his arms securely around her.

“Oh but you are. We are not moving by a single inch.”

“You have to take care of our children while I’m gone.”

The seventh’s eyes shot wide open. He closed them back, as the sunlight was so intense this morning. He didn’t answer for a while and then laughed wholeheartedly. He rubbed his face with his left hand.

“Wow. That was one hell of a sleep. My brain had reset our lives back to when we were seventeen. I swear to you, for the last minutes.... I…” The hokage laughed again, mystified by this momentary amnesia. “I had completely forgotten about the kids.”

“I love you, Uzumaki Naruto.”

He opened one eye to look at his wife. He opened both, concerned, as she was crying. “What’s wrong ?”

She kissed him feverishly, with longing and despair. She never had. “Tell Boruto and Himawari they are my sun and moon. I love them so much.”

“Hinata…”

Didn’t they close the curtains before going to sleep ? What was it with the sunlight this morning ? He had to put his forearm in front of his eyes to be able to look at her.

“I have to go now.”

“Where ?”

He tried to caress her hair, but she probably had already gotten up, as she was no longer in bed with him. He could only hear her voice.

“Listen…”

“What is going on ?”

He got into a seated position and all the lights went out, pitch-black darkness surrounding him.

“He didn’t do it.”

 “What ?”

The ground was cold beneath him.

“Wake up.”

“I already have.”

All of his body was sore.

“WAKE UP !”

He did, startled and feeling quite battered. He was stressed and could not see the environment surrounding him. His train of thoughts was blurry, enveloped in the cold fuzziness of his comatose state. Whether his eyes were open or closed, they were keeping him in a blind state.

“Naruto ?”

Sasuke recentered the ANBU mask on his face, to set the holes for his sight in front of his eyes. Seeing the raven sent a jolt of pure terror in his guts. He could not say why and as he didn’t know where he was nor why he was there, he had trouble mastering his impulse to headbutt him. The raven, on the other hand, seemed quite relieved and absolutely exhausted. If he seemed thankful for the blond to have awakened, he was also showing signs of distress. He was livid, his movements were sudden, his eyes wary, he was tensed all over. Most importantly, his right hand was completely charred.

“Did we fight, you and I ?” asked the seventh.

“You don’t remember any of it,” sighed the Uchiha.

From the look on the face of the Rinnegan bearer, Naruto could not figure out the answer to his question.

“Did you put me under genjutsu ?” inquired the Kage.

“No. I’ve never done that. I never would,” answered sadly the other man.

The Uzumaki looked at him intently. A genjutsu would explain the fear he felt in his presence and it could explain the blackout he had about the… what was the last thing he remembered ? The Uchiha was talking to him but he could only see the lips move, without hearing what he was saying. It was sluggishly coming back to him. The morning following the Kages summit, he had felt Kurama trying to overpower him. He had summoned the fox chakra he had gained as his own when he had been fighting Pain. But Kurama was strong. He was using all of his chakra, from the part inhabiting Naruto and the part that was free. The Kage had never been submitted to the entire power of the kyuubi’s chakra. It was overwhelming, to say the least. He then lost his mind to the fox scorching his skin. He closed his eyes, reaching his inner self. The beast was there, but had wrapped all of his nine tails over his body, so there was nothing to see but a big great ball of whiskey fur. Was he hiding, ashamed ? The blond had never seen him like this.

“Kurama ?” There was no response, neither vocal nor physical. “Help me understand, mate.” Not a single red hair moved on the beast : Nothing to acknowledge the host’s presence. “We literally live together, you cannot evade the situation. The sooner the better, pal.” Naruto waited a couple of minutes, certain the weight of the silence would crush the nine-tails resolution, but nothing happened. “Look, I can only assume that you had very good reasons… but, to tell you the truth, I had hoped that I’d never go through that again. It is excruciating. A little honesty from your part would do a lot here.”

It was as if Naruto was not even there. He was on the verge of casting a zillion bunshins and to Rasengan the fuck out of the tailed beast, but he was forced back to consciousness. Sasuke was shaking him by the shoulders, calling him. The blond’s throat constricted to the feeling of the raven touching him. Panic was flowing through his body, sending jolts of adrenalin, his body moved on his own and he pushed the man away from him. His fright of the Uchiha was even more powerful as he could not understand why he felt that way. He tried to get up, his face contorting as he acknowledged the soreness in even the tiniest of muscles.

“How long was I under Kurama’s chakra ?” he asked.

“Between seven and twelve hours. The next morning, you were free, but I don’t know exactly when it happened during the night.”

“How long was I unconscious after that ?”

“Two days.”

“Since when does it take so long for me to heal ?” asked Naruto incredulously.

“Kurama’s charka is not healing you at all. I’ve been carrying you back to Konoha ever since, but… while you were… possessed by the demon fox, we had ventured further north and I had to let you rest often, due to the extent of your injuries.”

“Wow… I sure miss that medic-ninja wife of yours in times like these.”

The seventh locked his gaze on Sasuke. Paralyzed for a couple of seconds, as he was struck by another memory. “Hinata… Where’s Hinata ?”

The Sharingan user went numb, tongue glued to his palate, forgetting to breathe. His eyes wide, filling with tears, he gave away the answer he could not formulate.

In an instant, Naruto was engulfed by a red chakra that consumed all of his body. The blond had no strength left to fight it whatsoever. He was in no state of mind to take it and did not want to be submitted to it. He wasn’t able to relax to reach his inner self where Kurama lay. He just let the waves of scorching flames take over his body and his mind sank into the combustion. He lied still. As the fox hold over him tightened with every surge of chakra, another presence made itself known. Silent tears broke his resolve. With the third tail sprouting, it became very clear that Kurama was not the one operating this torment. He was thrashing and rolling over and over, his body moving on its own accord wanting to extinguish the fire. With each tail, he crumbled further into maddening panic. The fourth one made him burst out uncontrollably, taking a deep breathe between each word :

“SASUKEEEEEEEEEEEE ! … STOP … IT ! ... PLEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAASE !”

The pain rendered him immobile. The physical torture had reached unprecedented levels. Naruto’s world had been plunged into a monochrome red and distorted by dancing flames, but he perceived the shape of the raven’s face overlooking him. Why was the Uchiha subjecting him to such an unbearable trauma ?

“STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT ! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH !”

With another tail out, the seventh became silent, mouth open, unable to summon the will to breathe. His back arched, his head bent backwards. His arms were wide open, his hands and fingers deformed by sheer agony. His heart was hammering at a stupendous hurtful speed, while a loud humming noise filled his brain to the point of oppression.  


	21. Another game

His face streaked by forks of blood tears, he was ferociously ecstatic. At that precise moment, he knew he was the exact image of the psychopath he was. His eyes felt like two lava stalactites and his brain like an o-daiko. The ache was formidable, but he was as equally joyful keeping the nine tails at bay. The first time he had tried to submit it to his will, it rebelled against him and was able to defy his commands for many hours. He had nearly lost consciousness, drowning in the blood flowing from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. On all fours, gasping and retching, trembling all over and laughing maniacally when he was able to catch his breath, he had been fighting Kyuubi for ten hours straight. Not only it had fought back with all its mighty power, but it had been bitching about it the whole time. The animal had the same exasperating personality as the Hokage. It was rubbing him the wrong way. It would never shut up. Having it sealed inside of him gave the fox access to his inner self and it had not liked what it had seen. It had discovered right away that he had no patience whatsoever for the loquacious type.

So, ever since Hinata had pinpointed its location with her Byakugan, that he took control of it with the Sharingan and sealed it inside of him, it had been talking non-stop. At first, it had been about his plans for the Uzumaki boy. It had been superbly furious about it, but to him, it had been satisfying. After a while, it tried to piss him off by nagging him about his childhood, his mother, his father, his deeds, his psychopath tendencies, but he could not care less about all that. It then discovered a very simple way to make him cringe. It simply chitchats about every and anything.

“As his brain is emerging from a short, nervous, not efficient night, that should’ve gone by in a deep and sound sleep, he twitched his eyebrows and rubs his eyes, already cursing the tail beast keeping his mind in a constant state of alertness. He scratches his hair, sits, yawns, rubs his face with his two hands, gets up, oh it’s cold out of the bed, come home nuts it’s freezing out there. He walks out of his bedroom decorated by a drama queen/gothic/so many feels teen into another depressing/suicidal/first-world problems youth room, opens a door: it is the bathroom. Is it time for a morning piss ? It is ! He is in front of the bowl. Has it in his hand. Come on now, pee ! Don’t be shy, pretty soon we’ll know everything about each other. I already know that you’ve got nothing to brag about. Go on, love, use your wee-wee and pee-pee for mama. He exhales, he wants to hurl. You hadn’t thought of that, huh, genius ? I’ll help you out baby boy. You can count on me. SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS What is it ? Come on, now ! That bladder is full. Oh yeah it is. You are nearly there. If you concentrate enough. BUH-RAA-VOO ! Is that it ? Three little drops ? No, it is impossible. Look man, nobody can attain the mesmerizing level of fucking shit you want to obliterate with a full bladder.”

On a positive note, it had constrained him to learn to better use his Sharingan as to make it obey. He had cast many – too many, to make a point – Gate of the great God to immobilize it and put a seal over its mouth. This time, he was in much better control. The beast had still been able to summon the willpower to transform its host into a human torch, but other than that, it was doing as told. He had to admit that it was clever move. The only one. As he wanted to make use of Naruto, the only way that it could be averted was if the fox took control of his host first. It came at a price, since the blond boy suffered immensely and would probably end up with PTSD if it occurred too much. The fox, however, chose that as the better option. From its point of view, it wasn’t wrong. Plus, in this form, the Uzumaki being unconscious, he could not access the Kage’s thoughts. So, being out of options, he appreciated the will of Kyuubi to fight for what it thought was right. It probably was trying to buy time, find a flaw in his plan, but there was none. He had to admit that he enjoyed the challenge, he ever had so very few and it was a good test of his newly gained abilities. He didn’t mind about perfecting those.

His fun had to end at some point, however, as he was already controlling the fox with ease and making it run to him. The Original was following it, as he knew he would and as he had planned it. He whistled. Aoimaru came to his side, fur matted by dried blood. He had been greatly disappointed by how it turned out with Sakura. He had had great expectations about it. So, he had put all of his frustrations on the one helpless ninja, paralyzed by the mazokus, lying on the ground, that was totally useless to him. It had not been much gratifying, as it was the middle of the night and he wanted to avoid unwanted attention with screams and cries. So, Shino had had to keep him under his total control, but he consoled himself knowing that Kiba would feel everything, even though it was not apparent, apart from the tears.

“Make the pup eat his throat.”

He walked closer to the feast, smiling and looking into the eyes of the ninja eaten alive. It was such a treat : the skin being lacerated, the blood gushing, the muscles being torn and the very obvious larynx being ripped out. However, he quickly realized that without any reaction from the tortured one, he would get no rush.

“How long before the mazokus can eat all of him ?”

“A couple of hours, maybe three or four.”

“You come back in the Hideout and follow the plan when it’s done.”

He had carried Sakura, still unconscious, inside the Hideout, and laid her on the floor of the cell where the farmer used to be chained. He took the few hours he had to sleep.

And now he had awakened and was walking up to the cell in which they were all locked in, with the dog walking to his side. Shino was behind Sai and Sakura, arms raised, controlling the insects which were slowly devouring his teammates. Sai was on his knees, brush and scroll out in front of him. Sakura was on his left side, a few feet away and every now and then was punching herself in the face. She was barely recognizable. Her eyes were kept close, swollen, as all of her bloody red face was. Her nose was enormous, bleeding, misshapen, having been broken in so many places. Her lips were cracked on all of their length and were thrice their normal size. They looked like wet slugs. With the next punch, she spitted out a tooth, that scattered with most of her front teeth on the ground. He laughed.

“Sai, please tell the interim Hokage that you have found Aburame Shino, who had honorably accepted to secretly accompany Hyuuga Hinata as to see her safely to the Kages summit. Explain that he had made it look as if he had been controlling her, as to conceal her presence from undesirable threats. Unfortunately, they were ambushed by unknown enemies and Shino died protecting her. He was given the proper burial a ninja has the right to. As the Hokage’s wife refuse to return to the village and insists on being with her husband, it has therefore been decided that for her own protection, the rescue team would guard her on her way there and on her way back. Add that you will keep him updated with news of your trip.”

The written piece of parchment transformed into eagle. Another punch and Sakura fell to the ground, unconscious. He presented his arm to the winged drawing that circled his forearm with its claws. He walked down the corridor, Aoimaru to his side. He walked across the hall chamber, opened the door that led to the entrance on the cliff. He let the bird go free. Behind him he could hear a door open and close. He turned around and the demon fox was there, standing.

“Kurama…”

He gestured the fox to the operating room. The beast lied down onto the table. He put a hand on the animal’s flaming upper torso, severely burning his palm on the pure fierce chakra. He didn’t care, he had wanted to experience the feeling. He took a couple of steps back and leaned against the wall, arms crossed, head bent forward, already knowing he would have to wait.

“You may choose to stay in this state, hurt, furthermore, the Uzumaki boy and not stopping me at all from getting on with my plan or we may proceed now with the skin molting jutsu.”

As he had anticipated, the fox did not retrieve back. They would have to wait for its chakra to be completely depleted. All was needed was patience and surely enough, the black and red fire faded out and left a piece of raw meat on the table. On Naruto’s face, rested his ANBU mask, darkened and broken in two halves. He got the strand of blond hairs out of his pocket and put it on the bloody chest.

“Heppi no dabi no jutsu.”

He watched the formidable process took place. It was incredibly fascinating every time. As the flawless skin was growing back, the pieces of the mask were pushed aside and fell onto the floor. At the sight of the naked men, he felt of rush of blood and his mouth suddenly dried up. He frowned and blinked, taking in what his body was telling him. His lips twitched, a small smile erupting.

“Ooooh… If I had known back then… I would’ve played a completely different game with you, Sasuke-kun.”

He slid his tongue over his teeth and laughed. He looked down at Aoimaru.

“I’ve got a new toy now…”

The insects burst out of the puppy, spilling its guts on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey this is officially half of the story so far   
> Hope you enjoyed it and that it'll keep you entertain for it's other half !


	22. The Window

The newly bloomed were moving together, holding hands, a stance no Ootsutsuki had ever taken. Kinshiki’s body was shaking all over. One newborn put a hand on the left wooden horn of the Moidon’s right-hand man. The latter gasped, and after retaining his breath for a couple of seconds, exhaled, incapable of going on. His whole body became weak. He could not hold himself up ; he was only supported by the hand.

“I am sorry Kinshiki,” said the one holding his horn.

Momoshiki walked over to the trio. As he faced them, he discovered that the body of the other bloomed was even stranger than what he had grasped in his first glimpse. It was like none that had ever been seen on Mangetsu. The overall figure was smaller and more delicate. The facial traits were dainty, but the most shocking differences lingered onto the body. The breasts did not look like muscles, but appendages, supple and full, with wider nipples. The crotch did not share the extra limb that the one seemingly named Hinoka exhibited, but seemed slit. The leader of the people was blinded by an overwhelming need for possession.

Kinshiki emitted a low rumbling that steadily transformed into a hurl. Smoke appeared as his wooden horn blackened and hissed. The hand on his forehead became engulfed in a red, bubbling cloud. The newly born had an awful sorrow look. Feelings had been gifted to them too. The left horn crumbled and the second leader fell face first into the snow. Momoshiki, shocked, unable to move or speak could not look away from the petite Ootsutsuki. The latter gazed into the Moidon’s eyes, tears sliding down.

“He could not prevent Jinmenju taking over him,” whispered the delicate one.

“Momoshiki, son, talk to us,” pleaded the other one.

The ruler did not answer. He stepped over Kinshiki’s body and closed the gap between him and the exquisite creature the tree had given him. He smelled this new member’s scent and the long hair of… not a brother… what was… ? The divine figure’s eyes showed determination and were trying very hard to hide fear.

“You have to listen. Your soul has been taken over by Jinmenju. We have been trying to escape the tree since…”

The Moidon took hold of both their wrists and broke their holding hands. He felt repulsion for Hinoka as strongly as he felt desire for the other one. Feeling his powerful anger, the beautiful Ootsutsuki put both hands over the leader’s face.

“My name is Kaguya. I am your mother. You are my son. We will always be one. You will always be mine and me yours. Do not let Jinmenju destroy us.”

“She is telling the truth. You must listen to her. I am Hinoka, her lover, her guardian. We have been prisoners of Jinmenju for endless millennia before being able to flee.”

The leader took hold of his enemy’s throat, squeezed and let him fall to the ground. Kaguya could not move to help him, as she was in the ruler’s tight embrace.

“Momoshiki, listen, I beg of you. Find in you the strength to fight back as Kinshiki did. Your humble brother was able to push back Jinmenju’s will. His soul stayed pure and denied the fusion with the daburumo’s evil intentions. It caused for his body to be deformed. I am destroying his wooden horns as to free him from the tree God. As we must all. He will wake up, he will tell you.”

Hinoka’s broken voice rose : “Show him Kaguya, show him.”

She blinked and opened the Rinne Sharingan in the middle of her forehead. Momoshiki’s eyes as well as those of all the Ootsutsukis waiting in Tsukiakari were marked with tomoes. In their heads, her voice resonated.

“My name is Kaguya. I am your mother and guardian of love. You are all my own, the children that I so love. However, you have been wronged my dearest. Jinmenju used my powers to make you dream about seeking the universe, as he was searching for a land where life source flows abundantly. He wants to leave this planet, plague another and leave it dead behind him. This planet was not an arid home. It used to flourish. Hinoka and myself used to live here,” her words gave way to the dream.

In long-forgotten times, Mangetsu was a green, prosper and peaceful home where lived Hinoka and Kaguya, the first ever lovers. They were eternal, as were their feelings. They had always ever known each other. They knew nothing but the passion they had for one another. Their bond was so strong that it reverberated through the universe, through other worlds. Thus, love was also found on other planets, in every home, for everyone. Kaguya and Hinoka were guardians of this sacred power and had to protect it. However, they could not guard it by themselves. Therefore, Kaguya used the power of her Rinne Sharingan to share with every living being in the universe, the truth, the kindness and the importance of love.

Jinmenju too felt love. He was entirely devoted to it. His adoration, however, was unrequited, unequalled : as he worshipped Kaguya with all his might. He suffered his undying affection from the very first time he set his eyes on her, until what would be the end of times. Jinmenju, alas, was not a guardian of love, but the spirit of the land. Hinoka and Kaguya were two corporeal beings. He was a soul who travelled and used the flora and fauna of Mangetsu as hosts. She and him could never be lovers.

He fostered his feelings to create the most beautiful paradise, where exquisite flowers bloomed beside majestic trees, where magnificent corals were the homes of splendid sea creatures, where nature was rich in colours and life. He found peace knowing that the visions Kaguya was sending the universe, were framed in his sumptuous decor. He consoled himself in never being far away from her, as animals constantly surrounded her. They were his creations and therefore loved Kaguya.

Every millennium, at sunset, Kaguya and Hinoka would come to The Window. That was what they had named the tip of an overhang that surveilled the ocean. From this exact spot, the horizon was infinite and when night fell, it felt as though they could see the entire galaxy in the open sky coated in stars. Hinoka let his lover walk alone for the few metres to the extremity of The Window and waited for her while she shared the dream of love with the universe. Jinmenju had planted the seed of a little tree, which grew just beside the tip of the hangover, small enough so it did not obstruct the guardian’s view. Every time she would come to look at the stars, he would jump out of the animal he was inhibiting and take place in the little tree. He found joy in knowing that he was the only one to share this exceptional moment with her.

On one of the millennium occasions, the little tree blossomed. The flowers were bathed in the golden sunset. The female guardian marvelled at the spirit of the land’s creations. She went to her knees to smell their wonderful perfume.

“This is a flower I crafted with you in mind, beautiful Kaguya. Which is why I named it after you.”

A rabbit that had accompanied the beautiful lady that day, hopped onto her lap.

“Nature that I adore. Can you keep a secret Jinmenju ? If I were not the guardian of love, I would be a rabbit,” she said, caressing the fluffy pelt.

“You have love for the land, magnificent guardian ?”

She raised her eyes. “Of course. How could you ever doubt it ?”

“But all of your affection is devoted to Hinoka.”

“I honour my feelings for your nature in staying true to my duty as a guardian.”

“Your love is a duty ? If you were given a choice, would you be mine ?”

She smiled. “Love is not a matter of choice, spirit of the land. I am yours, as I live in your realm. I am his, as he is my lover. We are one.”

Night had fallen. All around her, animals had gathered, their little heart fluttering, as they felt Jinmenju’s emotions grow. Kaguya got up, looking at the boundless stars. She opened her third eye and fell into the slumber of dreams. Overwhelmed by the guardian’s words, the little spirit grew as wide as his reciprocated feelings. As if wanting to touch the stars for which she was dreaming, the little tree grew and became the vessel of a God. Simple words had powerfully transformed the soul of the land. Gods are created, made of what they seek and gain. Only very few spirits may access this ultimate state, mostly out of dedication and selflessness. However, once a God… the powers are too great to withstand and most of them are corrupt from their primal nature. Little Jinmenju, as Kaguya, many millennia after that, lost his soul in the process.

Hinoka did not dare intervene, as he knew that the spirit had bypassed the guardian state and had become a celestial being. He had to obey the wills of a God. However, all while Jinmenju’s transformation, the guardian had gotten closer to his lover, step by step. At the base of the humongous God Tree, a wooden body had emerged. A head appeared, followed by shoulders and arms. The wooden clone of Jinmenju put both arms around Kaguya and pulled her over into the tree. Hinoka put both hands on the God Tree wrists. The guardian of love scorched the wooden skin, setting it afire. The hands darkened and crumbled. Jinmenju’s faceless head turned in the direction of the rival. Hinoka was swooped off his feet by a bough ; he grabbed it and burned it. Four other branches caught him by feet and hands. Another one found his throat and rolled around it, clenching tight. As the guardian was choking, the God Tree plunged his wooden hands into his enemy and ripped his heart out.

The wooden arm twisting around Hinoka’s neck broke his spine and severed the head from the body. The tree also teared legs and arms off. None satisfied, Jinmenju’s stuck his ligneous hands into Hinoka’s abdomen and teared the torso from the lower body. Growing his many branches to unprecedented length, the God Tree scattered the guardian’s eight body parts all around Mangetsu and buried them into the ground. Retracting to his wooden vessel, Jinmenju, covered of Hinoka’s blood, looked upon Kaguya, who was still standing, eyes closed, Rinne Sharingan open, dreaming for the universe. She was as beautiful as ever and she was now his. He took the guardian in his arms and pulled her into the core of the tree, taking in all the animals that had hidden under her robe. They disappeared in the utmost silence of death, Kaguya oblivious to her lover’s massacre.

If Gods do as they please, guardians, however, are not mere common beings. Their body may be destroyed, but their spirit cannot be shattered. The soul of the guardian of love was still alive, into Mangetsu’s soil. It had been ravished, his corporeal form torn in the most excruciating way. However, he did not care for his material form. He only had one duty : to protect and share the love he had for Kaguya. The God Jinmenju was threatening that. The tree was not pursuing the guardian’s mission. Therefore, Hinoka was entitled to use love’s darkest force : the all-consuming rage of hate. It made his soul boil. Where his body parts had been buried, the land let eight gigantic volcanos burst and scar the earth. Their eruption covered the planet with lava, scorching the green paradise, rendering the planet sterile, and destroying all of Jinmenju’s eternity of work. The sky was clouded with thick gray smoke for thousands of years. Mangetsu died in the battle between a God and a guardian. Where the luxurious jungles and fields had flourished, there was nothing more but a deep and hard black crust, covered by the snowing ashes of the precious life it had once harboured.

The dream ended, the tomoes faded in Momoshiki’s eyes. He smiled weakly, a tear falling along his cheek. He wanted very much to fight the spirit of the God Tree, but he knew he couldn’t.

**  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I've plunged you into the backstory I created for the Ootsutsukis. I hope it was as fun to read as I enjoyed inventing it.


	23. Three phases

The seventh woke up. He tried to move, but couldn’t. He was naked, lying on his stomach on some table and paralyzed. “Kai.”

There was a familiar chortle. “You are not under genjutsu, Hokage-sama.”

“Sasuke ! Were we captured ?”

“I was not. You were summoned here.”

“Summoned…”

“Through the fox.”

“Through Kurama… By… ”

“Me.”

The blond shivered, feeling vulnerable. There was something terribly off about the raven’s tone.

“… You ?” asked Naruto in a squeaky voice.

He put the tip of his index on the jinchuuriki’s back thigh. As the Uzumaki was immobilized, he could not see the other male. He could only feel a finger slide up and down his spine and five nails tear his right butt cheek. The Kage was too shocked to voice any complaint.

“I would’ve wanted you to be freezing, undressed, lying on this metal table. Cold contracted muscles are much more subjected to pain than relaxed ones. Alas, you are always hot, hosting the beast and all…” He leaned over his hostage and breathed in a vicious hiss directly into his ear : “I am not out of ideas on how to make you tense… I’m going to have so much fun with you, Naruto-kun.”

The seventh’s body stiffened.

“That’s a good start.”

His captor put both his hands on each side of the table, above the blond. He then put his left knee between the jinchuuriki’s legs, lifted himself on the table and put his right knee on its edge, beside the Hokage’s right leg. The Uzumaki stopped breathing, petrified. The man on top was finding that quite appealing. He pressed his body over the Kage, setting his erection against his groove. To Naruto, his skin felt like a mix of smooth tanned leather and cold glazed porcelain. His body was surprisingly heavy and it set panic deep inside the blond’s stomach, as it didn’t feel human. The seventh had the impulse to flee, but could only slightly squirm, brushing his buttocks against the other man’s length. The latter chuckled and massaged the back of the blond with one firm hand from the lower spine to the neck and grabbed the man by his hair. To him, the jinchuuriki’s skin felt ablaze.

“Sasuke… I beg…”

The Hokage choked and arched his back as much as he could, mustering a determination he didn’t know he had right now. The other man was forcing himself into the blond. The seventh writhed with all his might, but he barely had any chakra left and all of his body was sore. The new pain, however, was making him forget about his battered muscles.

“Aaaah… The Uzumaki clan and their wild chakra. It is impressive that you are able to move at all, as I am making use of the fox to crush you on the table.”

As the aggressor was tearing up his way in, pain subdued to suffering and transformed into agony. The Kage’s mouth was left open in a muted scream, closing only to grit his teeth and exhaling harshly every time the assailant would pause.

“You are so tight, I have trouble to push it further. But we’ll get there.”

“You perverted fuck.”

He leaned over Naruto and murmured : “I’ll be sure to tell Sasuke.”

The blond could not make sense of that answer, and the torture he was subjected to make it irrelevant. Going in dry was hurtful even for the rapist whose body didn’t react pleasurably. However, knowing that the jinchuuriki was in much more discomfort gave him enough satisfaction to keep going. The fox kid shed the first silent tears as the excruciating burning sensation mixed up with the dreadful feeling of being denied his humanity. When the aggressor had filled the man, he lingered there a little. There were three phases to this little game he was playing. With each one he had planned to bring the seventh on a whole new level of shattering pain. If they all included physical torment, the first one was solely devoted to it.

That first phase was the longest one. It had started a couple of days ago with the demon fox transformations. It had to be, by far, the best way to break that will of his. Now that he was already strained, stressed and that all of his nerves were in overdrive, this forced sexual submission was even more destructive. He had no emotional nor physical defences left to protect him. His nude body was a metaphor for his stripped soul and bare mind. Phase two was all about fracturing the seventh’s sense of self and he was brimming with hasteful excitation thinking about the third phase : the emotional devastation. Each phase was leading to the next one and he knew that even though the Hokage was now focusing on the intense physical sensation, the self-loathing was already working its way through.

The assailant receded back and to the Uzumaki’s disbelief, that was as agonizing than him going any further. The other man violently pushed his way through in again, unleashing a hurl of aches and helplessness from the Kage. He felt as if his rapist was piercing and scraping the tender flesh with an ice pick wrapped in sand paper. Blinded by searing pain, he found a new strength and grabbed the edges of the table.

“I really have to keep focus, haven’t I ?” asked mockingly the deviant man giving another hard shove into Naruto.

The blond was trembling, summoning all of his strength and will to get out from under the sociopath. Mustering every one of his muscles, clenching harder around the raven and thus submitted himself to only more pain. The rapist rammed once again inside him. The jinchuuriki pushed with all his might with his legs, wanting to crush the man out. The aggressor got hold of the seventh’s neck, choking him, penetrating the Hokage all the way. The man on top moaned three times. The Uzumaki’s heart was in his mouth, as he was feeling the hot semen gliding down his insides. The assailant put the Kage’s head down on the table but did not let go of his hair. He threw himself heavily over Naruto’s back, panting.

“Well… it is certainly a seventeen-year-old virgin’s body,” derided the psychopath.

Letting the feeling of their sweaty bodies sink into the blond, he mockingly intertwined the fingers of their right hands.

“Oh but don’t worry…” He licked the salty left side of the seventh’s face from chin to ear. “It is a young… So it’s ready to go again !”

One body was overly tensed, the other blissfully jelly, one like a white-hot metal, the other like the dead come to life. “Don’t be afraid, boy. Even though you are severely bruised and teared, it won’t be as painful, with the blood and sperm lubricating the way.”

The jinchuuriki retched. There were only needles in his contracting stomach. He was gagging miserably, choking on his saliva.

“I suppose I should be disgusted, but you are clenching pretty hard.”

The Hokage coughed and spat.

“You’re a twisted motherfucker.”

“From your point of view, I suppose it is twisted. As for the oedipal phase, I have long passed that if I ever had one.”

As a ninja, the Uzumaki had known about suffering quite a lot. Whether it had been physical : injuries, broken bones, torn muscles, bruises, swelling, gashes, stabbed wound, burned flesh, scraped skin, or whether it had been emotional : loneliness, rejection, injured comrades, suffering family, death of friends, he thought he had known everything about it.

This kind, although, he didn’t know a thing about. He had never been tortured… like this. The physical torment had never filled him with a sense of deprivation. All the fights he had engaged had been against opponents that had found a different version of a right path. They had all been fighting for what they thought was right. Yet, this sociopath was now using the Kage as he pleased. Naruto had lost all will to fight as he had discovered there was way less suffering if he didn’t move and tried to relax. Being raped was filling him with the sense of being an object or rather was emptying him of his sense of being someone. He was something, a dirty thing, a rag on which you stepped on without any care.

“Phase two, kiddo.”

The human brain was so complex and for normal people, it had the funniest ways of coping with traumatisms. The fact that the fox brat was not putting up a fight anymore meant he had stopped willing to protect himself. In letting his captor fucking his ass, he was giving in to a pit of low self-esteem, shame and disgust for himself. Of course, he had consciously chose to save himself from hurting too much. But, unconsciously that was accepting what his aggressor was telling him with his body. His assailant had no respect, no consideration, no love and no empathy for the blond. By not being able to flee the scene or to fight back, the seventh’s brain was now protecting itself by accepting the situation. He was embracing that it was not worth being treated as an equal, as a man, as a human being.

He was not completely controlling the Hokage, as he needed the Uzumaki’s body to give him hints as to succeed in fulfilling phase two and transitioning to phase three. He was careful about the way he was moving, very attentive to details, changing angles in which he sodomized the Kage. And surely, he noticed when the blond’s eyes popped and his muscles involuntarily clenched around him. He hit again the same spot in the same manner. The seventh turned his head as to rest his forehead on the table, hiding his face from his torturer. The position was uncomfortable, but he was too mesmerized to care. Another thrust was given as to brush the bundle of nerves. Naruto was still in incredible torment, but it was being overridden by powerful jolts of pleasure.

He smiled viciously as the jinchuuriki’s ears’ helices were turning a vivid red. He could hide his face if he wanted to. He could even close his eyes as to escape what was happening, but he could not run away from his body. He continued to slowly and gently poke the blond’s sweet spot ; he wanted the Hokage to have the most intense climax he had ever experienced. By doing so, he would take the deprivation further, in associating incredible pleasure with the degrading use of his body. Cursing the Uzumaki with the most powerful orgasm attained against his will, associating it with torture by the hand of his best friend. Making him lust for the use of his body, the misuse, the abuse. The sociopath would’ve laughed, but he did not want to take the Kage’s mind off the moment. The seventh had started to pant.

Naruto was trying very hard to fight back his body, but the more he concentrated on not getting aroused the more he would be. He was so hard and feeling much pain, not only from the abuser, but because his erection was crushed between the table and the weight of two men. The intense blood pressure was driving him crazy and he tried to lift his butt.

The rapist flashed a malicious grin. He readjusted himself, taking the jinchuuriki by both hips and heaved his buttocks upward, freeing the twitching rock hard member, slick with precum. The blond was still clenching the edges of the table, but had turned his head to the right, cheeks reds, eyes closed and panting heavily. There was no sense in being gentle now and he resumed ramming the Hokage directly onto his prostate. The Uzumaki moaned, moaned louder, then moaned loudly. Phase three was very close now. He leaned over the Kage, breathing in his ear. He took the spasmodic sex in his hand and pumped it in synchronicity with his thrusts. Naruto’s eyes popped open and he gritted his teeth. His panting became short and frantic and there was a brief second of silence where his brows and the bridge of his nose furrowed, his lips parted and gritted his teeth. The sociopath clenched his fist as hard as he could around the jinchuuriki’s length at the base of the head. The blond choked, unable to breathe, his vision blurry.

“Sasuke decapitated Hinata.”

He released the Hokage, whose semen was shot in long strong flows. They had transitioned to phase three. The Uzumaki’s spasmodic hole sent the abuser over the edge. As soon as he had taken the last bit of pleasure he could take from him, the aggressor retrieved from the Kage’s body. He got up, backed away and leaned against the wall. Even though he had been released from Kurama’s oppressing chakra, Naruto could not move a single inch. He was shivering uncontrollably, lying in sweat, blood and semen. He was emitting a disrupted high-pitch humming.


	24. See you soon

Sasuke had been waiting, sitting on a bench under the Hokage’s house porch. His arms had been crossed, his head bent, his eyes closed. It had been a warm sunny morning ; the windows had been opened.

“Daddy !”

The little girl probably jumped into her father’s arm, because young children tend to do so. It had always made the raven’s heart melt, but Sarada was not so small anymore.

“Come Bolt.”

“Why ?”

The boy had the same way of answering his father than the Uchiha’s daughter.

“Don’t be like that. I’ll be ba...”

“Why doesn’t mom go while you stay and take care of Himawari crying ‘mommy mommy’ ?”

The dark-haired ninja knew that if the boy had taken a knife and drove it into his dad’s heart it would still have hurt less.

“Boruto !” exclaimed Hinata.

The young teen had run out of the house. He had stopped in his tracks when he saw Sasuke sitting there. The raven had raised his head.

“I hate him !” spat the son.

The dark-haired ninja’s eyes met the little blond’s. None said a thing. The boy started walking, eyes of the older man piercing his back. The Uchiha wanted to see if Boruto had what it took to stand for his word or if he was still too intimidated by adults to really transgress the rules. The twelve years old stopped, his feet made the slightest movements towards the house. The front door opened.

“Boruto ! Here ! Now !” the father’s voice echoed.

The son ran away. Naruto started to sign his bunshin jutsu.

“Sarada did the same.”

The Kage jumped, turned his head to Sasuke, then back to the street. “I’ve lost him.”

“Let him go.”

“Why ?”

“So he’ll learn from regretting not saying goodbye.”

“But I…”

“But you have to go.”

The seventh sighed and closed the door. Inside, the little girl was crying monstrous tears. When she was soothed, she promptly required : “Fireflyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy daddy ! Please, please, please!”

The father sighed, again. The raven smiled. The fourth Raikage, Obito, Madara, Kaguya, himself and four-year-old Himawari were the only one for which the Uzumaki had to display Kurama’s chakra. The dark-haired ninja could not resist looking through the window. The blond swirled on his right foot, as if practising a magic trick : the little girl laughed and he was ablaze. The immense chakra that was emanating from him warmed the air around. Naruto looked like Apollo, the Greek god in charge of moving the sun across the sky. Although, the Uchiha would never admit it… and right now, his friend certainly lacked the presence, as he was running around his living room imitating a flying bug.

Sarada had gone out by the window of her bedroom when Sasuke came in to say goodbye. He knew that meant her daughter wanted him to chase her. He knew about fleeing. The problem was that he didn’t know her at all and so he wouldn’t know where to search for her. He had felt Sakura behind him.

“She went to her friend’s, Chocho.”

Of course she had. The Akimichi clan was living on the other side of town, the exact opposite to where Sasuke had to be. Unfortunately, he couldn’t go after her. The raven had turned around, dreading what was coming. His wife had pulled him closer and hugged him tight. He had rested his arms on her shoulders. When she had looked up to him, eyes full of hope and burning desire, he had kissed her cheek. She had gone for his lips, barely touching them. He had put his index and middle finger on her forehead.

“I love you, Sasuke.”

He cocked his head and smiled. Why on earth would she still love him ? Why did she ever in the first place ? The raven would never know.

“You’ll say hello to everyone for me ?”

She had finally let go. She knew now when she could insist for affection and when she could not. He was sorry she had to be the one to adapt in their relationship. She had grown patient and submitted to the dark-haired ninja’s will to show any kind of attention.

Most of their childhood comrades had even grown to consider him only has an acquaintance. They all were polite and respectful, but there was nothing of the warm feelings friends would share. He did not blame them nor did he regret not being closer to them. He was hardly ever there. They bowed and welcomed him when he came back and bowed and said farewell when he left. That was the extent of his relationship with them. As it had always been in his life, there ever was only Naruto and Sakura to give a damn about him. The Haruno was still pathologically in love with him, but would not cry or get angry anymore about his long leaves. Although, she stayed impossibly hopeful that he would open up. The Uchiha guessed that he could not ask for less from this wife of his. As for the Uzumaki, Sasuke could never leave for too long or too far away for him to grow a cold shoulder. The blond had remained for a long while the same silly puppy that jumped around and barked enthusiastically when he came back. As they were older now, he was less vocal and making less of a show out of it, but he always welcomed him back with warmth : a feeling that scorched the cold man he was.

He could still see the young man bouncing on his feet, covered in dust, furiously smiling under his ANBU mask, hands fidgety as he opened the door to welcome him back.

“Sasuke ?”

The raven had looked at his wife. “I was thinking about the night I came back.”

Her eyes had gone wide and she had smiled at him, so happy. “You always surprise me by being the most romantic when I expect it the less.”

The dark-haired ninja had stayed still, looking at this pink-haired woman who would always find a way to interpret what he was saying as to soothe her bleeding heart.

“And then, by pointing it out, I turn you back to a stone tablet, unable to admit that you are a big softy.”

The Uchiha smiled, he was out of trouble. He was always walking on a very thin line with his spouse. He certainly didn’t want her to be miserable, but he absolutely didn’t want her to be too clingy.

“See you soon,” he had told her.

And there she was, all bloody and swollen. He could not even recognize Sakura by her face. It was a patchwork of colours : black, blue, burgundy, violet, green and yellow. She had to keep her mouth fully open as to breathe, blood flowing from it in many trajectories. To Sasuke's relief, she was unconscious most of the time, but as soon as she woke up, she hit herself. She kept on doing a whimpering noise, that was heartbreaking and rendering him mad. How had a reincarnated Shino, controlling both Sai and Sakura with his insects had ended up in a cell ? How had he ended up in a cell facing them ? He had been running after the seventh…

Right before his eyes, the fiery chakra had taken over his Kage, again. It had happened in the blink of an eye, the blond not having a single shred of chakra to fight back. The demon fox had not attacked the raven, not even cared he was there and simply dashed through the forest. It had either hide its true speed earlier or the dark-haired ninja’s last sleepless nights were weighing on him, because he had not been able to keep up. He had cursed himself. Very soon he had only been following a luminous dot on the horizon and late in the morning, he had resorted to track the beast sensing its chakra. He had cursed his uselessness. In the middle of the afternoon, he had lost it completely, but kept running in the same direction, hoping it did not change course, unable to consider the consequences of really losing sight of Naruto. He had cursed the faded tomoes of his Rinnengan.

“Funny how you are the one running after him now,” had said someone with the most annoying voice he had ever heard.

How could he have not sensed there was someone just behind him ? He had turned around. “Hn...”

For a split second, the Uchiha was shocked. But as he had experienced a couple of days ago, there was a shinobi out there whose skills enabled him to masquerade bodies with others' appearances. He had looked intently at his interlocutor, who had been standing there, smirking.

“Who are you ?” had asked Sasuke.

“Who am I ? Are you kidding ? It should be obvious, mostly to you.”

“Not who you're impersonating. Who is the real you, under that skin ?”

“Oh, that's no skin. This is who I am.”

The raven's fist started to tchiped, sending jolts of miniature lightning. “Look, motherfucker, you better start talking, because I don't…”

“As for the oedipian phase, I have long passed it, if I ever had one.”

“What ?”

The imposter sighed. The Sharingan manifested in his eyes. The dark-haired ninja blinked.

“I told you. I am the real deal.”

The world had phased out and he had been running after Naruto again : Funny how he was running after him now. Just like the Uzumaki had done for him so many years ago. Why did he even bother to come back ?

He had returned to Konoha late one night. He had gone straight to his friend's house. The blond had been wearing his fox mask when he opened the door. The Kage had recounted countless of times the story of how he had been assigned an ANBU member.


	25. We do

The Uzumaki had been arguing with the Sixth, Hatake Kakashi, about being an ANBU member since the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War. The Hokage wanted him nowhere near the tactic force. It had nothing to do with the jinchuuriki’s ability.

“Hokage-sama,” said the young man as he entered his Kage’s office.

“Naruto, you look exhausted… and are rather filthy to present yourself here.”

“I want to talk about me being an ANBU spy…”

The previous day, the blond had been to the bathhouse. Just as he was entering, he noticed a brunette with long hair on his left. The Uzumaki could not say where they had met before, but he definitely knew her. When she noticed the jinchuuriki, she blushed violently and disappeared into the bathhouse. Since Sasuke and him had awakened everybody from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, girls had shown much more interest in him. He entered the bathhouse. She wasn’t any kunoichi he knew. She had recognized Naruto, but they all did. That was why the Sixth wouldn’t let him be a member of the ANBU squad. Everybody knew him and a mask would not conceal his identity. He was one of the few to have been promoted as an elite jonin, but being an ANBU spy was all about the secrecy.

He entered the changing room and undressed. The only girl who was not a shinobi that he talked to was Ayame, Ichiraku’s daughter. He entered the baths, full of steam and naked men. He halted. Steam and nakedness. His eyes popped. He let out a shout : “KO-NO-HA-MA-RU !”

He heard a shriek, a jutsu being released, followed by the screams of many women.

“GET OUT, YOU DEVIANT FREAK !”

“YOU’RE DEAD, DEGENERATED PIG !”

“CATCH THE DIRTY LITTLE SQUIRREL !”

He had not recognized the little pervert, since he, well she, was not naked or in a tiny bikini. But there was no mistaking it. The blond heard water splashing, multiple feet running on wet ceramic, someone falling, many someone falling, muffled screams. The Sarutobi was being bitten, scratched, punched, kicked and spat on. With a little luck, the grandson of the Third would get out of it alive.

“SHAAAAANNAROOOO !”

With a shitload of luck.

It then hit the Uzumaki. He got up and got out of the bathhouse as quick as he could. He would need to perfect it. He spent the night getting it right.

Now, in front of his former sensei, he signed his transformation.

“Excuse me ?” asked an offended Kakashi.

The jinchuuriki had changed his sexy no jutsu into a gender swap jutsu. The most obvious difference : she was wearing clothes.

“Are you trying to seduce me into making you an ANBU ?”

“WHAT ? No ! I… everybody knows Naruto, but only a very few people in Konoha know… errrr… Naruko ? And nobody’s seen her like that, like an actual person.”

Kakashi was speechless.

“I… I am the same. Boy or girl, it doesn’t matter and I don’t care.”

Kakashi was wordless.

“It is safe ! It is not like for the bunshins. I won’t turn back into a male if I get hit. I will stay female as long as I have chakra.”

Kakashi was voiceless.

“… We both know I have an almost limitless reserve of it, so the risk is minimal.”

Kakashi was motionless.

“I even got rid of the bunches,” the young woman turned around and showed the low bun on the back of his head.

“… It is somewhat messy,” pointed out the Kage.

“Yeah… I’m not very good at it.”

The Sixth repressed a laugh and another one, but could not hold it any longer. He laughed his heart out. “Naruto ! You really are our number one most unpredictable ninja !”

The blond did not answer. He wasn’t sure if making the Hokage laugh was a good or a bad sign. The Hatake wiped off some tears and took deep breaths to get his focus back.

“Naruto, during the war, you were almost always using Kurama’s chakra. Which gives you an overall fierce bright glow. Nobody knows about your hair colour, your eye colour or even your skin colour for that matter. The way you look when you make use of this chakra completely changes. The few moments you were back to your normal self, you were surrounded by Leaf’s shinobis.”

“But… but…”

“Still, maybe someone would’ve recognized you. However, you have grown quite a bit since then. You are not a teen anymore, you are a young man… But that is not why I hold off your assignment for so long.”

“Why, then ?”

“Well, you already had all the technical skills to make a formidable ANBU spy. But you lacked something very important. I didn’t want to tell you back then, but… you needed to grow a bit… emotionally.”

A flash of anger spread to the Uzumaki’s eyes, but left as soon as it came.

“That is what I meant. Here, it is yours.”

The Hatake reached for a bag at his feet and put in on the desk in front of him. The jinchuuriki approached and opened the bag. Inside was a folded ANBU uniform topped by a mask. The mask represented a fox. The porcelain was cold and incredibly smooth into his hands. Naruko was so excited that he felt like a little boy again.

“Thank you, Kakashi sensei.”

The slip made the Kage smiled. The blond put the bag over his shoulder.

“I really like the long hair, but you will need to lose it.”

“What ?” The Uzumaki realized he still had a girl appearance. He released the jutsu. “You’re creepy, Hokage-sama.”

“Don’t make me change my mind now, Naruto.”

And so, just in case the Hokage had not been joking, from that day forward, the jinchuuriki harboured a cropped hairstyle.

The night Sasuke returned, the blond had just sneaked back into the village, directly into his bedroom. He had still been wearing his mask.

There was a slight knock on his door. The Uzumaki peeked through the peephole. He started bouncing and fumbled with the doorknob before practically crashing his head on the door while opening it. He could not believe his eyes.

“Naruto ?” asked the dark-haired ninja.

The jinchuuriki cocked his head to the side. Did he not recognize him ? He tried to answer, but his voice was muffled by porcelain. He put the mask on the side of his head. Both men stared at each other. The blond only wanted to throw himself at the raven, but something in his eyes froze him into place.

“Naruto… When you’ll be Hokage… I will be your shadow.”

It took some time for the ANBU’s brain to process what his friend had just said. Of all the things he thought he would say, he had never imagined that.

“A Hokage[1]’s shadow ? That’s a good one !”

“I will not be one of your ANBU ; I will not be a full-time advisor. You will be here in the village : shinning Hokage of the Leaf. I will be your shadow ; the ninja travelling the world and bringing back word of what is going on out there.”

The Uzumaki took some time to answer that. It had been three years since they had last seen each other and before that he had been chasing the bastard for so very long. Tonight, he just barged in and talked to him about when he would be Kage.

“Why don’t we talk about it at Ichiraku’s ?”

“No.”

The jinchuuriki opened the door completely, backing onto the wall as to show the Uchiha his way in. “If I say yes, will you quit the subject and come in ?”

“No.”

“Teme ! Could you be less of an asshole for one…”

“I have to get to Sakura’s…”

The blond blinked more than a few times. He breathed in and out. He closed his mouth. He looked intently at the young man in front of him. He then chuckled and slowly started to laugh. Before long, he was laughing so much that he had to hold his abdomen and his hand reached for the door for support. The raven crossed both arms. He remained calm.

“Naruto, do you agree ?”

The Uzumaki was not listening anymore. He was laughing so hard he was crying. “Oi ! Hot shot ! I see that… three years on the road is rough on a young man !” He was uncontrollably shaking from laughter. “She… she… she finally… made it… through your thick skull !” He was now choking from trying to speak while laughing hysterically. “She… she… she… kept… she kept you… she kept you warm at night, Sssssasuke ?”

Both of the dark-haired ninja’s arms unfolded. They were hanging on both sides of him. He first offered a shocked look to the blond. The ANBU was waiting for him to get mad, blinded by rage. Instead he showed a profoundly hurt look. The Uchiha closed his eyes and bent his head forward, looking at his feet. The Uzumaki stopped laughing altogether. Time stood still for a brief moment. When the dark-haired ninja’s voice rose again, it was hoarse and barely a whisper.

“Naruto… Do we have an agreement ?”

The blond stared at him. Sasuke clenched his fists, but did not raise his head.

“Aaaah… mmm…why… well… I guess…”

The raven was immobile.

“… We do.”

The Uchiha turned around and disappeared into the night. He was running through Konoha to get to Sakura's house as fast as he possibly could. He had not been able to bear it any longer. He had stayed away from the Leaf as long as he could suffer it. At some point, he had thought he had learned to live through the dull pain. The days had gone by, making him a little more miserable, a tad more unreliable, furthermore despicable. After three years away, he realized that he had not atoned for his sins at all. Whatever his brother and his teammates had fought so hard to bring back to the surface, he had only buried it deeper. Being alone was the only way he felt safe, but it was also the way of a dangerous man. So he ran back to his village, ran back to Naruto, but it was all too much for him and so he was now running to the Haruno’s. There was a tree near her house and one of its branches led directly onto a balcony. He jumped and tiptoed along the bough, crawled through the window, ran soundlessly through the corridor, opened a door, ran again, opened another one, entered the pink-haired girl's room and closed the door behind him. It started raining.

He blinked, he was waking up from a very vivid dream. His hand was still on the door cell he had just closed behind him. He had been under the influence of a powerful genjutsu. He already knew how the caster had accessed to Naruto’s detailed memory, as the raven was sensing his Kage’s presence. He was very near, in another room. The question was : How could he have implanted images of the Seventh’s mind into his own head ? He turned around, he was facing another cell, with Konoha's rescue team in it, or what was left of it. Shino was obviously an edo tensei and was using his insects to control Sai and Sakura. The painter seemed unharmed, contrarily to his wife.

 

[1] Kage means shadow


	26. One and only

Sakura, in a raspy way, coughing and choking on her own blood, was still breathing. Sasuke was staring at his wife, as she lay on the ground, immobile. She had been unconscious for a long time now and there was nothing else to do but watch her excruciatingly awful torment.

The Uchiha was famished, exhausted, out of his mind with anxiety, freezing and sodden. His cell was flooded in three inches of water. He had fallen asleep and had woken up nearly drowning. His captor knew of his abilities and the best way to counter them was to keep him wet. In this aspect, the raven was like a cat, not very keen of water. He could not even use chidori, unless he wanted to give himself a heart attack.

The injury provoked by the demon fox grabbing his wrist had spread to the entire hand and forearm. The skin was entirely black and his arm had been rendered useless above the elbow. At some point, the scorching burn had gone through his nerves and he lost all feelings in his lifeless arm.

There was only silence and Sarada’s mother beating herself to death. There were the foul odours of the painter and the kunoichi's bodily fluids, in which they macerated. At some point, the dark-haired ninja had closed his eyes, not being able to stand hearing another of his spouse's moan, another of her bone breaking, another faltered breath, hear her head hit the ground, look at her gruesome deformed face.

He had banged his head against the wall and forced himself to look at her. At first, he was relieved to find her unconscious, but as time went by, he felt sick, his stomach an icy bottomless pit. He then noticed that her hands had stopped shaking. They had been relentlessly and uncontrollably shaking. He discovered that both her wrists were broken and the hands were hanging at the end of the arms, bloody and swollen.

And then the diamond shaped strength of a hundred seals unleashed its incredible power, lacing the woman's face and body in black ribbons. She was in such a bad shape that the whole process took minutes where it would’ve normally been effective immediately. Her bones mended, her face and hands deflated, her skin colour went from black to purple, to green to yellow, to red to pink, to her fair natural colour. Her jaw reattached to her skull, she resumed breathing in and out with her nose, she closed her lips. Her teeth regrew, the gashes closed and cicatrized, she swallowed, choked, coughed, her eyes fluttered and she opened them for the first time since she had been captured. She stayed there, unmoving, her eyes fixated on her husband. She started trembling as silent tears streaked her face.

“Sakura…”

She got up and so did he. She reached for the bars. He clenched his jaws, he had the impulse to grip the bars, but his dead hand did not respond. He tightly closed his lips, his chin trembling. She violently hit her head on the bars.

“NOOOOOO !”

Her eyes lost focus, her head lolling, her body leaning against the door cell. Blood was flowing rapidly in a singular line from the roots of her hair, on her forehead, her nose, her mouth, her chin and dripping on the floor. She had fractured her skull. She fell to the floor, her body in a grotesque position. There was a sickening crunching sound as the seal on her forehead put back together the deformed bones. With both her hands she heaved her torso, got on her knees, then on her feet, took hold on the bars and crashed her forehead on them once again. She fell flat on the ground, her chin hitting the floor, blood flowing out of her mouth. She was emitting a continuous sound, like a phone off the hook.

“I'll give her that, she is strong.”

The imposter with the Sharingan was leaning against the wall beside Sasuke's cell, licking his teeth, arms crossed.

“Stop it. I beg of you, stop it.”

“That depends entirely on you.”

Sakura buttheaded the bars of her cell and fell backwards.

“I'll do anything, just stop this.”

“Why do you care ?”

“She is from my village.”

She crashed her forehead on the bars, fell onto her knees, head bent forward.

“That I know. She also is the mother of your daughter. Tell me why do you care ?”

The Uchiha didn't like where this was going. The copycat knew too much about his personal life. “SHE IS MY WIFE !”

“On that account, you and I are alike. Stating the facts… not so much for feelings.”

His wife cracked open her forehead on the bars, felt sideways, hitting her head on the ground.

“I love her.”

The imposter turned his head slowly to give him a dubious look and snorted. “I suppose some part of you learned to like her, but you cannot go against the shiver of disgust that glides down your spine as she kisses you.”

There was the tiniest flicker of shock in the dark-haired ninja's eyes before he could master himself. The imposter laughed. The Haruno crushed her head against the bars and collapsed on the floor. The raven gritted his teeth as his eyes filled with tears.

“She is and has always been the one and only woman for me.”

The fake one laughed even louder. “Of that, I have absolutely no doubt.” He nodded in the edo tensei's direction.

The pink haired kunoichi's seal healed her once again. She rose and grabbed the bars with both hands, spreading her legs apart as to gain stability. The black ribbons lacing her body were retrieving back to the seal.

“But I am merely freeing you here.”

“No,” voiced helplessly the Rinnegan bearer.

Sakura's head bent backward and forcefully hit the bars of the cell. She staggered, her eyes unfocused. The right half of her forehead had caved in. All of her body was shaking. The mazokus were what kept her upright.

“Stop. I beg of you. Stop !”

“I cannot do that. You are the only one who can Sasuke-kun.”

The Uchiha turned his head as to flash a murderous look to the copycat. Instead, his jaw dropped as Naruto appeared next to the man. As the Kage didn’t seem to acknowledge his surroundings, moving with his eyes closed, the raven assumed he was under the fake one’s control.

“What do you want ?” asked the dark-haired ninja.

“The same thing you do.”

The copycat’s fist grabbed the Seventh’s hair by the back of the head. He obliged him to come closer, pulling the blond in front of him. Never looking away from the Uchiha, the imposter got his tongue out and slowly licked Naruto’s jaw line and ear. The raven shivered. Still holding him by the hair, the other man forced Naruto to go down on his knees and hands. Sakura took a few steps backwards and leaned against the wall of her cell.

“Why are you doing this ?” asked the raven.

“Why I ? … No, Sasuke-kun, why are you doing this ?” the imposter looked down.

The Uchiha went numb. The jinchuuriki was on all four to his feet. Movements caught the raven’s eyes. His spouse was sprinting forward hitting the bars with full force. A horrifying metal screech blended with a sickening skull cracking. The bars curved under the strength, blood splattered on the dark-haired ninja and the copycat. Head crushed, Sakura fell to the ground with a heavy thud. She did not move. The dark-haired ninja did not move either. He did not blink, he did not breathe. Tears were falling continuously from his eyes.

“Sakura…”

Sasuke gasped as the body of his wife moved. It was subjected to spasms, her torso heaved, her arms jolting. Her body was submitted to waves of convulsions as enormous bulges formed under her skin and travelled through her body, eating the muscles and bones on their way. Gigantic insects started to fly out of her mouth, her nose, her ears and the opened skull. They burst out from her abdomen, unleashing their deafening buzz. The Uchiha couldn't look anymore. He was trembling all over, whimpering, choking on his muted screams. To his feet, Naruto turned his head upwards and locked gaze with him.

“Why are you doing this, Sasuke ?”

The raven hurled as a searing pain took hold of him. A wire made of lava was travelling through his mind.

“Where were you during the hours preceding the summit ?” asked the Uzumaki.

The dark-haired ninja fell backwards into the cold and dirty waters. It was as though his brain was banging against his skull. As if someone was hammering a particularly long nail into his head.

“Where were you, Sasuke ?”

He screamed as the poison spread into his eyes, like an acid burning him from the inside. His eyes were melting into their sockets.

“Where were you ?”

Hot blood flowed from under his eyelids on his cheeks, covering the lower part of his face. In the course of a couple of seconds, the pain subsided and completely disappeared. He lay there, motionless, shocked.

“Did you survive the process ?”

The voice startled the dark-haired ninja. He opened his eyes. Everything was dark. He sat, head turning from right to left. He was still in the cell.

“Beautiful.”

Sasuke’s head followed the sound of the voice. He blinked. There was nothing.

He was blind.

The imposter unlocked and opened the door of his cell. Two feet entered the water and splashed their way to him. The raven backed away, in a clumsy crab walk, pressing himself against the wall of his cell. The other man got beside him and crouched. The Uchiha felt three fingers closing in around his right eye and apply pressure. He turned his head as to face his captor.

“Take this, you fake fuck.”

Sasuke’s chidori travelled instantly through the water spreading to the men’s bodies.


	27. Jinchuuriki

He had sent Sai to his death, making him go for the Original’s eyes and chidori. It would not have been a mortal blow, but the mazokus had already weakened the painter. After that formality, with Sasuke unconscious, he could easily take out the precious organs. He had had to admit defeat and submit to the fact that only an Uchiha’s brain could trigger the mutation, the eclosion of this new kekkei genkai. The sprouting of the Baruakkugan had been the result of an elaborate yet high-risk scheme, as there were no guarantees as to when it would actually happen. Therefore, he had subjected the raven to as many and as cruel events possible in the last couple of days. He had planned another traumatic event for the dark-hair boy, but as of now, he would only use it for his personal amusement.

Through Kurama, he had put Naruto entirely under his control. The mark of the Sharingan’s powers had replaced the blue irises. He was lying on the same table he had used to defile him. He had considered leaving him naked, but he had trouble concentrating with the bare skin in view. Incapable of planting the first catheter in the right wrist of the blond, he put back on the Kage the pants he was wearing when he arrived. Hesitating on inserting the second one, he grunted and even put back the shirt. It was disconcerting how the Uzumaki’s pheromones were a drug to the Original’s body.

He had worked tirelessly to make sure the computers would be able to detect and isolate different types of chakra signatures. He had applied many sensors on the blond’s torso, slipping his hand under the shirt. He had chortled, sensing his arousal to the touch of the Seventh’s skin. Thankfully, he was keen on not letting the signals his body was sending him overpower his brain. If he could not control how his physical form reacted, he could master the impulses and he took pleasure in knowing he had power over everything, even his own flesh.

After a couple of minutes of data analyzing, the results were presented on screen. As expected, there were ten chakra types. He smiled, admittingly impressed. One of the signatures found represented such powerful and vast energy, that the computer had not been able to quantify it. That had to be the kyuubi’s chakra. He was delighted by the discovery and in awe that he had not been able to predict how strong the fox’s energy would be, even cut in half. There were eight other distinctive chakra flow, which he assumed were the other beasts. They were approximately all equal in quantity and represented somewhat ten percent of a final signature, which appeared as a ridiculously large resource.

“You do have a lot of chakra, Naruto-kun.”

He selected the nine tails chakra and asked the computer to reduce its amount as to make it equal to the other tailed beasts. As the machine could not quantify its volume, it could not estimate how long the process would take. Through the intravenous he could see the red chakra leaving the Kage’s body and entering the devices. There, the energy was transformed and compressed. He lifted Naruto’s shirt and circled his navel with the tip of his index.

“We have a lot of time to kill, what should we do ?” He playfully teased the rim of the jinchuuriki’s pants. The blond had a controlled emotionless face. He emitted an ironic pitied whine as if watching a frightened puppy. “As much as you are tempting me, we have to restrain ourselves, Naruto-kun. We’re expecting company.”

A deafening buzz was filling and echoing in the corridor outside of the room. Into the doorstep appeared a black cloud of insects, under which Shino was dissimulated. Lifting his arms, the Aburame walked to the Uzumaki’s side : the colony swarming to the Seventh’s face, entering his body through the ears, the nose and the mouth. The Kage emitted a choking sound, but he was controlled into keeping his throat wide open. After a couple of minutes, not even half the swarm had taken possession of their victim. The insects had gotten so big and powerful that only a fraction of them were needed and could enter his body. That was something the copycat didn’t know would happen, but he intended to take advantage of the situation.

“I fear the honourable Hokage has missed the many deaths the mazokus have provided for us. Please use the remaining of the colony as to reenact the final moments of Yamanaka Sai, Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba and last, well first but not least, Hyuuga Hinata. Here’s your pop corn, Shino-san.”

He handed over to the entomologist the piece of wood he had collected from the God Tree many years ago. The Aburame took it, put it in his mouth and swallowed it whole, perforating his throat in the process. He made Naruto sit and they watched as the insects were taking the shape of Sasuke and Sai, disrupted lines of insects mimicking the chidori strike. The blond’s body started trembling from head to toes. They witnessed Sakura’s skull caved in against the bars of her cell. Tears streaked the Seventh’s impassible face. They observed as the mazokus impersonated Kiba, lying and his puppy, Aoimaru, devouring his throat. The Kage’s teeth clenched. They gazed as the flying bugs reenacted the Uchiha decapitating Hinata. As the buzzing head was sent flying, the Seventh hurled. He turned his head over to the blond whose eyes were wide and mouth was wide open.

“You are delightfully strong.”

He put his hand on the Uzumaki’s cheek. The heat of his skin could not be mistaken. Sure enough, the red chakra engulfed the Kage’s body. The jinchuuriki was panting heavily and beads of sweat were glistening on his forehead.

“Astonishing… you are simply mesmerizing.”

As the bubbly chakra was building around the Seventh, he had no choice than to convey all of his attention into his Sharingan and ask for reinforcement from the mazokus. The fox chakra gradually faded and the computer began emitting a continuous beep. All of the bijuus chakra were contained in the same proportions within the young man. The devices to which Naruto’s catheter were linked were producing a pill.

“You see this ? It took me years to understand how to materialize chakra.”

He put a red pill into a phial and then into one of his pockets. He looked to Shino who had been punching himself violently on the throat to get the chunk of wood down. He nodded to the edo tensei who nodded back. For the next phase of the plan, they would need all of their strength settled on controlling the Uzumaki, who could possibly overthrow them. He had just shown that he certainly was capable of it if they were not cautious and the blond was not even at his full potential. He was, however, trusting the fact that the tailed beasts chakra were sealed within the Kage in such low quantity that it would prove a bearable challenge.

While he was keeping his arms directed at the blond, Shino turned his head as to face his summoner directly and opened his eyes as wide as he could. The man he faced put thumbs, index and middle fingers of both hands into the entomologist’s eyes sockets and plucked out the organs. He pulled as to detached the optic nerve from the chiasma. He let them drop to the floor, he turned back and took the entirely black orbs resting on a bed of ice and used them to replace the ones he had taken out of the edo tensei. The Aburame innately turned his head back as to face Naruto, his head straight, his eyes locked on the wall : he was blind.

His summoner grabbed him by both his forearms as to make his hands touch those of the Seventh. The entomologist pressed his palms against those of the Kage. His master breathed in and out as to concentrate on the task waiting. He activated at once all of the bijuus charka inside Naruto. From root to tip, the Uzumaki’s hair went from shiny blond to dense white. His skin became paler and as he was enjoying seeing the transformation taking place, the blond’s body started trembling. The jinchuuriki looked up and fixed his raging haze on him, showing fangs.

“I… will… kill… the… fuck… out… of… you…”

Naruto’s eyes turned yellow and his pupils adopted a cross shape. The whiskers-like marks on his face became six thick black stripes. The mazokus were slowly driven out of him, through his ears. A dark red chakra was pulsating around him and taking multiple shapes that appeared and disappeared while expanding around the Kage : the racoon, the cat, the turtle, the ape, the horse, the slug, the beetle, the bull and the fox.

The rest of the mazoku’s colony was sent flying into the Seventh’s direction, but would instantly burn when hitting the red chakra. The caster of the edo tensei jaws were clenched and thick blood was pouring out of his eyes. The red cloud kept expanding in a three-dimensional ball of fire that obliged Shino and his summoner to step away. The operating table fell to the floor as its legs gave away in a metal screech. On all four, the blond slowly sat back, lifting one knee and pulling himself up. His whole body turned ablaze. For a brief moment, as he was immobile, he looked like a golden statue. Then, his head bent backward, he opened his mouth as the red chakra was pouring back inside him. His torso lifted and his feet departed from the ground. He was floating a few inches above the floor as all the fiery chakra desapeared inside him.

“Susanooo !”

The Aburame and his caster were surrounded just in time by the jutsu, as a dull detonation occurred. There was a glimpse of absolute silence before a violent wave of chakra crashed everything around and sent the whole hideout trembling. Susanoo’s wings folded over Shino and his master to cover them, as the ceiling was falling down.

As the wings opened up, their surroundings were hidden under a dirt fog. As it was dissipating, patches of sunlight were revealed. The entire room had collapsed. They were outside, out in the open. The access to the cells had been completely buried under stone and earth. Floating a few feet above the rumble, the Uzumaki was gazing down at them, white-skinned, surrounded by truth seeker orbs, wearing chakra clothing with magamata and shakujo in hand. The caster of the edo tensei put both his hands on the brink on his nose and used them to wipe his face clean from all the blood flowing down his eyes. He then started laughing wholeheartedly.

“I cannot believe the amount of chakra the little fuck is displaying.”

The key was speed. The fox kid had no idea of his plan, so if he and Shino acted fast enough while maintaining some level of control over the blond, they would succeed.

“Rasen shuriken !”

The ten tails jinchuuriki was coming towards him at full speed and all of his strength. It seemed all control was lost. The Aburame punched his summoner on the side of the head and made him collapsed to the ground. The Uzumaki stopped dead in his tracks a few inches from the caster. The entomologist turned away from the unconscious man and looked at the Seventh. He opened his arms, palms down, to invite him in an embrace.

“Hokage-sama, my friend…”

Naruto took a few breaths, his eyes taking in his surroundings. He looked at his hands, his sight lost in his thoughts, realizing he was now in a ten tails form. He locked gazed with Shino, examining the papery thin skin and entirely black eyes. He exhaled, realizing he was free of domination. He planted the shakujo into the ground and went for some well-desired compassion. But as they were about to hug, the Aburame turned his hands upwards and took hold of the jinchuuriki’s ones as to connect their palms. The entomologist used their combined hands to perform seals. The Uzumaki did not have time to fear. From deep within his guts, the Kage could feel an emerging alien chakra rising strong and fast. In a matter of seconds, he was completely swallowed up by this evil energy and disappeared within it.


	28. A duty

“Momoshiki, you are the host of a God, but his powers are limited and not as strong outside of his tree body. You must find the strength to fight Jinmenju,” said Kaguya.

He did not answer. He was slowly breathing ; his eyes were closed and his head was down.

“Son, we are one,” continued Hinoka.

He laughed. He looked at the guardians of love, smirking.

“Kaguya and all of the children are mine. Hence the wooden horns and the Otsutuski[1] name. You, guardian Hinoka the hornless, are not one of us.”

Several branches of the tree attacked the male guardian, grabbing him. The latter used the hate he harboured for the God of the land to burn the wooden arms with his palms. But as soon as he got rid of one, two others would hit him or grab him. Powerless Kaguya, could only try to reason with Jinmenju.

“I am bound to Hinoka as he is to me whether you like it or not God Tree. It is our duty, as guardians.”

“And it is mine to guard the land, which he thoroughly destroyed.”

“The land has no purpose without the love we protect, nature spirit !”

“Without love ? You may be its guardians, but you are not the only bearers. You have, here, thousands of fruits of our love.”

“Jinmenju, this power was not yours to use. I have withheld within me the love you want to impose ; hence all of our children are emotionless and neuter !” spat Kaguya.

The God was taken aback. It hurt him to understand that even after so many millennia, she had never opened up to him. The tree hit harder, cut deeper and crushed fiercely his rival’s bones.

“You lie, Ootsutsuki Kaguya. You lie, because you are ashamed of having betrayed your mission. I would’ve never been able to give you some of my spirit it you had not accepted it willfully. You wear the horns only a guardian of the land has.”

“I did not betray my duty. I am the guardian of love. I love the land and a part of you is still its spirit. The love I could give was the one that accepted the part of you that belongs to the land.”

“All of my being belongs to the land, therefore, so do you.”

“You may have transformed my body so it could bear children, but my spirit belongs to Hinoka.”

Jinmenju raised a hand, palm wide open in her direction.

“You cannot control me, God of the land. You have made me one of its guardians.”

“There are other ways.”

He lowered his hand, went to his knees and pressed it against Kinshiki’s back. He applied quick pressure and a red bubbling billow instantly submerged the God Tree and vanished within him.

“What did you do ?”

“I killed him.”

Kaguya threw herself over Kinshiki’s body, caressing his white hairs, sobbing. “Your own son… Why ?”

“So I could scorch your precious lover like he did my land.”

Hinoka was brought face to face with Jinmenju, transported by the tree’s arms. The God of the land’s eyes had changed, bearing unknown symbols.

“Have a taste of the Mangekyo’s powers.”

The male guardian spat into the eyes of his torturer. His saliva bearing all the hatred his body was mustering. The God Tree screeched, his eyes burning into their sockets. He went to his knees, fists onto his closed eyelids, hurling. Jinmenju’s spirit being overwhelmed by pain could not control his tree body, setting the lover free. The male guardian fell to the ground, where he could not move, having sustained many injuries. Kaguya went to his side, embracing him into her arms. She had no powers allowing her to fight, but she could heal. She infused her companion with all of her love.

Jinmenju’s face was covered in blood. He had stopped screaming, breathing heavily. When he opened his eyes again, their organs were entirely black. He moved his head around, trembling. He seemed terrified.

“Mo… mother ?”

“Momoshiki ?”

The son turned his head over to his mother’s voice. He closed his eyes again, crossing his forearms over his face, blinded by the spirits of the guardians of love.

“What happened ? … I… cannot see... except for two shinning lights.”

“Jinmenju took over your body, son. You have been fighting Hinoka…”

Momoshiki gasped, put both hands on the ground.

“I cannot… keep him… at bay… we need… to seal him.”

“Seal him ?” asked his mother.

“Yes. I share… his powers… I’ll… seal him… into the… tree… so he… can’t… get… out.”

The Moidon slowly raised his torso. He was shaking all over, beads of sweat on his forehead. He hurled once, as to summon the energy to put his palms together and perform hand seals. He put two trembling hands in the air.

“As soon… as I… touch… the tree… his… spirit… will… be locked… in.”

Hinoka sat. He looked at the quivering leader of the Ootsutuskis. The latter clenched his teeth, his head falling forward as blood was pouring from his eyes, like raining clouds.

“Help… me… get…” He cringed. “Please… Help… me…”

The male guardian got up and walked to the son. He put his hands on his shoulders. Momoshiki pressed both hands on Hinoka’s abdomen. A black seal appeared, surrounding the hands of the caster. A gigantic mass of red life source left the Moidon’s body and penetrated his mother’s lover through the black seal. Hinoka took a few steps back, losing balance. The son fell face forward to the ground. The lover turned around, to look at his female counterpart.

“I am the God of the land. I am the guardian of love. It is your duty to love me, Ootsutsuki Kaguya.”

She did not answer. She seemed impassive, her sight lost over another one of her son’s dead body. She closed her eyes.

“It is my duty.”

“Call upon the children.”

“What do you want me to tell them ?”

“Let them come, so they may greet us.”

She opened her Rinne Sharingan and enjoin all of the Ootsutsukis to meet their mother and father at the God Tree. Soon, they had all gathered around. Four of them carried Kinshiki and Momoshiki’s bodies away and hide them from view outside of the circle. They would be granted the funeral customs they deserved, but right now it had to wait. Only Moidon and newly bloomed were allowed beside the Grand Tree. Unfamiliar with gatherings around the progenitor, their eyes were waiting, silent, their faces blank and their bodies immobile. Jinmenju walked along the circle his children had formed. He walked slowly, watching each and every one of them. After several minutes, most of the Ootsutsukis had closed their eyes, entering a meditation state. When the God of the land had come full circle, he exhaled loudly.

“What a deception. Frankly Kaguya, you should’ve opened your heart to me… Children : please hold hands.”

They took hold of their brothers hand to their right and left. They were instantly connected in the wide circle. The God Tree pressed the palm of his hand onto the torso of the son beside him.

“NO !” screamed Kaguya.

Jinmenju applied pressure with his hand and a gigantic wave of red life source jumped out of all of the Ootsutsukis bodies. It was so vast it covered the sky entirely. It gave the impression it would crush them. The guardian of love crouched, covering her ears and closing her eyes screaming as the monstrous tide of life source was falling back down. When she opened her eyes again, it was to the sound of thousands of bodies falling to the ground. The God of the land had his arms wide open and was laughing, enjoying the moment. She was so shocked ; she felt her heart would implode.

The God Tree let out a loud sigh of satisfaction. He was a powerful enough God already to ingest all of their souls without being tainted by their emotionless state. He had his own brimming feelings and those of Hinoka to guard him against the army of empty shells Otsutsutkis. He turned his head, looking at Kaguya who seemed to have completely zoned out. He walked to her, took hold of her chin between thumb and index. He pointed his own eyes with his other hand.

“With these, we will finally be able to find a new home. I will open a spatio-temporal portal to carry us to a beautiful planet, where we can create a paradise even more beautiful than Mangetsu ever was.”

As she was none responsive and did not seem to see him, he decided to take action.

“Amaterasu !”

A black angry fire took over the thousands of bodies. She took hold of her hairs and started screaming hysterically. She ran to the fire, wanting nothing but to be engulfed by it. She was pulled back into Jinmenju’s arms, struggling to get free. He was holding her tight, caressing her hairs with one hand. She was trembling and sobbing.

“It is a nightmare.”

“Hush, hush, little rabbit. We’ll have plenty more.”

She seemed to gain control over herself and became motionless, her breathing becoming even. The God of the land looked down and discovered the guardian tightly hugged by a pair of translucid blue arms that came out of his abdomen. He could feel they were those of Hinoka. He wanted to tear the two of them apart, but his physical arms could not reach the free spirit of the male guardian. The God Tree did not understand why the seal could not hold up Hinoka. He searched in the turmoil of his celestial self and understood that all of his thousands of children he had ingested were helping the lover to escape.

Hinoka had taken hold of Kaguya’s spirit and was struggling to get out of Jinmenju’s body. All of the female lover’s three eyes were open and she smiled to the God of the land without seeing him. For a moment, the God Tree was caught in the dream and entered a vision where the guardians of love cherished him, the little land spirit. They had always loved him, as parents did their child. His longing heart skipped a beat where all his suffering was soothed by the powerful impression : a warm hug for love, a gentle caress for tenderness, a look as an embrace.

He came back to reality eyes wide open. She was not in his arms anymore and her lover’s spirit had left his body. He looked up ; the guardian was levitating. Her hair had grown to an extensive length and her eyes seemed blind, as they were entirely white, but could clearly see as she was looking down on him with an incredibly piercing look.

“Jinmenju ! God of the land ! I am Kaguya, Goddess of love ! You have killed all of my children ! You have misused the powers that were mine as a guardian ! You have degraded my lover’s vessel ! … His free soul joined mine and with our combine powers I WILL HATE YOU TO DEATH !”

The God Tree had never before let himself be immersed in the dream of love. He had only ever watched the guardian dream. She had never denied him the chance to enter the vision, but he had always chosen to ignore it, as to only look at her. Thus, he had never felt love, never felt the love she beared for him, never felt where his right place had been in the world. He was the spirit of the land, he was their home and he was what they cherished the most. They had devoted all of their millennia to share one knowledge : love is a duty that is owed to each other.

As she came down hard on him, piercing his body with sword bones coming out of her palms, he did not show any kind of opposition. He accepted the fury of her judgment ; being guilty. She stabbed him repeatedly, each hole she created in Hinoka’s body liberating one of their children's soul. She sent a terrible shock wave using her eyes, which shattered every bone in his body. She grabbed him by the neck with both hands and liberated another hundreds of their children by draining his life source. Her long hairs transformed into numerous keen needles that nailed him to the tree. Kaguya was bursting with her lover’s sombre ability : Hate. As Jinmenju let go of the will of the Gods, feeling all of his powers vanishing, he looked straight into the Goddess’ enraged eyes.

“I… am… sorry.”

The little land spirit faded from Hinoka’s body and infused the tree. She let out an uncontrollable high-pitch scream. She was mad with loath. As to set her free from the awful burden of his powers, her lover’s soul left her body and used his spirit to surround the tree and penetrate its bark. He had used his entire life source to seal and imprison Jinmenju’s spirit forever in the tree. As he did so, Kaguya lost all sense of his existence.

She took the horribly battered body of her lover in her arms, falling onto the ground with him. They were bathed in the male guardian’s blood. She had no strength left whatsoever and could not cry or scream. She lay there, as all of her children’s spirits were released from her lover and took hold of her body. Their dispassionate souls were tainting her own and she felt herself being stripped of all her emotions. Before being robbed of all her powerful feelings for Hinoka, she gave him a long sweet kiss on the forehead.

“One day, you and I will be reunited and I will love again.”

She very much hoped it was true, as she felt empty of love’s warm embrace. She got up, looking down at the broken body. She did not recognize the taste of happiness the vision of the guardian used to mean to her. He was not even someone long forgotten. She did not recognize who he was.

She turned away ; taking in the new powers she had acquired with her spirited God-self full of her children’s life source. She created a spatio-temporal portal to another dimension. She looked at the tree. She looked at the dead body. The death of a guardian was outside of her powers range. With a small hand gesture, she lifted the tree up and with it went through the portal. She did not look back, did not glance one last time at her lover. A magnificent yet terrifying white lady covered in blood left the body there, mutilated, on a deserted planet.

 

[1]    Otsutuski roughly means “big bamboo tree”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have enjoyed writing the Otsutsukis' genesis so much. I felt absolutely free of letting my imagination go wild. I hope you liked how I put together the pieces of the puzzle in a way it fit the canon Naruto's story (apart from Momoshiki and Kinshiki's deaths.)
> 
> And finally, a chapter of longer length. Or should I say of decent length ? Or simply of normal length ? Most of the upcoming chapters will be as long... with a couple of exceptions. I don't know why the chapters of this story are so short. I just always felt they were complete the way they were...


	29. Deranged man

She was convulsing. She was in a lot of pain, her spirit trying to leave a body, which the doctors were trying to tie her too. She heaved her torso, inhaling as she felt her inner self departing, the drugs they had injected punching her violently and pinning her back into this side of reality. Her mind was shattering to the stroboscopic visions she had of the hospital she was in, with her mother and father to her side, and her black-haired soul companion, now aware of her presence, choking her and assaulting her mind through the powers of his abnormal eyes. He wanted to crush her spirit and enter the physical form she was occupying. Hyperventilating, her frightened heart hammering, she could not formulate any sentence and kept on screaming whatever he was shouting in her ear. She fell into the bliss of unconsciousness.

Sasuke woke up with a formidable headache. He slowly opened his eyes, frowning, the neon lights rendering him blind. After a moment, he realized he was staring at a white ceiling. He turned his eyes to his right ; there was a cherry blossom on a bedside table. His right arm was restrained to the bed he was in. His fist was covered in dried up blood. He looked at his left, he had an arm. He winced as he flexed his swollen and broken fingers. It was a restrained battered arm, but it was still his.

“Koko de nani ga okotte imasu ka ?[1]”

“No… please…”

The raven looked up. There was a fat old couple staring at him. They did not seem dangerous. They were obviously citizens.

“Anatahadare ?[2]”

“Don’t do this,” said the man, breathing hard, his face turning red.

He seemed to be in a hospital room, but why was he attended by strangers who did not speak any language he knew ? They kept on chatting while he tried to make sense of his situation. He felt weak, depleted of his chakra. He could not even get out of his restraints. He had reached the point of being absolutely pathetic.

“Thomas, we’ve been over this. The doctors have told you countless times already.”

“I am fed up with this nonsense.”

The man got beside his bed. The Uchiha gave him an irritated look. The stranger proceeded to lift his bed to a sitting position. It was fine by the black-haired ninja, it would give him a better view of his surroundings. The man went to the back corner of the room and brought a mirror on wheels beside Sasuke.

“I want you to look, Emma.”

 

[1]    What is going on here ?

[2]    Who are you ?


	30. Usagi no musuko

To his right was seating Sakura and to his left Naruto. Kakashi was facing them. Sasuke was hiding his face using his crossed hands. It seemed their sensei wanted them to talk about each other. The 12-year-old dark-haired boy could not care any less. He had been paired with an usurukontachi and an annoying large forehead. He did not listen to these partners of his, as they chit-chatted excitedly about themselves, the sound of their voices just like chicks chirps. He had to stay focused, no one would get in the way of his ambition, not even those imbeciles. As he was about to speak up, the copy-nin took down his mask, revealing a pitch black hole where the left eye should’ve been.

“Where were you before the Kage summit, Sasuke ?” asked the Hatake, sending his own chidori through his heart once, twice, thrice, with no avail.

“I don’t know,” the raven answered.

“Where were you, Sasuke ?” asked the pink haired girl.

The Uchiha looked at her. Her head was split into two ; bugs were crawling out of her caved skull, of her mouth, her nose, ears and eyes. She took the dark-haired tween’s hand and plunged it into her ribcage where he grabbed her beating heart. He took the living organ out of her breast. She pledged how much she loved him as she crushed her own heart closing the boy’s hand over it.

“Only Itachi knows !” growled the Sharingan bearer, the exploding heart splattering.

As he wiped the blood off of his face, he could feel himself ran into the woods, Shino and Hinata by his side.

He opened his eyes once again. To his left, shiny nine-tails Naruto was filling himself with ramen that turned into snakes in his mouth. He did not bother to swallow, dropping the chopsticks and taking both hands to force feed himself the noodles that swirled and hissed in his mouth.

“Where were you ?” asked the snakes through the blond’s nostrils.

“My brother is dead !” shouted the raven, setting the illuminated Uzumaki in dark flames with Amaterasu.

Hinata pointed forward, the three of them started running again. They stumbled upon Kurama. Sasuke took control of it with his Sharingan.

The raven and the jinchuuriki had been fighting for so long. They had been beating each other up since… when was the last time they had slept or ate ? They could barely control their limbs. They were ridiculous, down right idiotic. It took all they had to be able to lift their fists before losing stance and falling into the puddle of water they were soaked in. It felt as if there were no muscle responding and only shaky joints. They had no jutsu left, no chakra to perform any kind of ninja art. They were not even wrestling, only trying to will their body to stand up.

The Uchiha performed a seal as to imprisoned the fox within himself.

The blond took one step forward, the dark-haired teen did the same. The Uzumaki lifted his arm and slowly lodge a jab into the raven’s forehead. Sasuke simultaneously placed a hook into Naruto’s ribcage. They could not move anymore. The jinchuuriki’s left eye completely swelled up. The raven’s Rinnegan was closed, waiting. He knew Kurama was channelling his chakra as to give it to his host. The Uchiha had been patiently waiting for it to show up. They simply breathed rashly in and out. They fell to their knees, another moment of utmost pain. There it was. Using the contact of his fist on his best friend, the dark-haired ninja transferred to himself the chakra the fox was giving away. The power of the Rinnegan would be the blond’s downfall. Naruto caught him by the collar with both hands. He lifted himself tearing the fabric of Sasuke’s shirt, closing the gap between their bodies. The raven grabbed the jinchuuriki’s shirt with full fists from behind, trying to yank him out of his way. But the Uzumaki’s body became ablaze with a scorching black and red chakra, burning the Uchiha’s skin. Their bodies pressed harder together in melting flames. The demon fox lips brushed the dark-haired teen’s cheek. He chortled quietly in his ear.

“Oi, teme, you fell for the bunshin ?”

The fox chakra’s spread from Naruto to Sasuke. It covered the latter’s back in licking flames, enveloping all of his body, surrounding his head, covering his ears, penetrating the auditory canals. All sound was cut off except for the waves of fire. The chakra blaze was covering his face, slowly building its way from under his shin and over his forehead. As they were closing around his nose and about to cover his mouth, the furious beast leaned in for a hot white kiss. The Sharingan bearer let the black and red fire through his lips take possession of his mouth and roll down his throat.

All was black. Where was he ? The bath’s water must have been cold, but he had gotten accustomed to it. He just felt good there, lying motionless. He could not hear or see anything. He wanted very much to go back to sleep. Anyhow, his eyes would not open. His mind was a fog, no coherent thoughts making their way through. Someone was trying to stir him up, but he did not want to budge. Today he was going nowhere. The world could go to hell, he did not care. However, it seemed the asshole that wanted him to move was stronger willed. He found himself obediently sitting up and going on all four. That was when he started to vomit what felt like gallons of horrendous water. Three times over he sat back, took his breath, only to fall frontward and expulse ghastly amount of putrid liquid. He spat over and over again, without being able to get rid of the stench in his mouth. His mind was dizzy and even in pitch blackness, he had the impression the entire room was swirling, but his body remained still, not flinching.

“You have to stay awake.”

Sasuke was so feeble he could not answer. He did not understand how his body did not crumble. He had trouble to concentrate enough to find back his breathing.

“I will seat you against the wall and wait for your brain to put it together. Then, I’ll give you sighting. Right now, I’ll keep you in the dark since it seems vision would only make you retch. All you have to do is stay awake.”

He was not carried, his body moving on its own accord. He seemed to be under genjutsu, he was so weak he could not show any sign of resistance. His body crawled up to a wall, splashing into chill waters. He leaned against a stone wall. The caster was making him breathe deeply and steadily, which helped greatly. Staying awake, however, proved to be a formidable challenge, even though his brain was vibrating in an o-daiko low but powerful roll : where were you ? … Where were you ? … Where were you ? In his head were the flipping images of a book filled with an incalculable number of failed clones.

“Look, you are in hypothermia, I’ll help with that and will warm you up. I cannot heal your charred wrist but I’ll make it so you can use it. You are starved and dehydrated, you have suffered severe trauma, which seems like a heart attack. You have multiple lightning entry points on your body and let’s not forget you were drowning when I found you. You are lucky to be alive and you deserve the longest nap ever chap, but you have to fight it and stay awake. You understand ?”

 _Where were you ?_ A flash of Itachi’s eyes and of his teenage body.

“Hn…”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Everything was quiet and still for a moment.

 “We have to get going, the entire hideout is menacing to be falling over our heads.”

“What happened ?”

“Let’s say blondie went overboard. We’ll discuss it later. A wall of your cell crumbled, offering us a staircase leading down. Not ideal as to escape the place, but as we cannot get out by the door, we’ll have to make do.”

At some point in the discussion, Sasuke’s head stopped spinning.

 _Where were you ?_ The kidnapping of some unknown man.

“I’ll give you back your sight now, okay ?”

From over his brows, the Uchiha felt a thick and sticky film of what felt like liquid rubber fall over his closed eyes. Once they were covered, even though his eyelids were tightly shut, the dark-haired ninja recovered his vision. It was still very dark, but he could discern shadows into the darkness. He could not see the difference between the walls of his cell and where the bars and door should be. Although the caster of the genjutsu was very near, due to the closeness of his voice, he could not see him.

“Release me from the gentjutsu.”

“You are not under any kind of jutsu.”

“Where are you ?”

“My location is inconsequential.”

“How did you get in ?”

“Look, I’m here, trapped, like you and we both need each other’s help. So we can talk about survival or we can actually survive.”

“Do I call you anything ?”

“You’ll know soon enough when your brain is less of a mush, Sasuke.”

The raven’s body got up. The Sharingan bearer felt highly insecure not being at all in control of his movements and being played by someone he could not remember. For now, however, there was no other way as he was still fighting the urge to fall into a deep slumber. He could feel that without his somewhat friend’s help, he could’ve not moved at all. The Uchiha’s legs moved forward, his right hand following the wall.

 _Where were you ?_ Shino stabbed from behind, a sword going through his throat.

He found a cavity. There was a corridor following the back wall of his cell. He entered in, leaving the waters. He then realized he wasn’t cold anymore and was entirely dry. To his left was a staircase from where was emanating a dim light, to his right, the passage was blocked by stones. The stairs sent him spiralling down for a couple of flights. He then found a wooden door. It was locked.

 _Where were you ?_ Flashes of being in Konoha, interacting with everyone.

“I'll get that.”

Sasuke heard this companion of his play with the lock and open the door. Seeing as he, himself, had his hand on the handle, the whereabouts of the other man were unnerving. A grand chamber offered itself. It seemed to be a laboratory where many experiments were displayed. The room was lit in crude neon lights hanging from the ceiling. The walls were filled with shelves containing glassed jars. There were many desks with microscopes and computers, operating tables stained with blood and other bodily fluids. The odour would’ve been asphyxiating, but it seemed to have been long abandoned. In the back there seemed to be water filled tanks, but they were hidden by the furniture and many medical tools.

 _Where were you ?_ Boruto was pouting, hidden in a small alley. He was crushing the missive inviting his father to the Kages summit.

He went to his left, his non-caster friend turning his head to the side, obliging him to look at the transparent bottles. Most of them were containing what looked like dried up organs. Some seemed to be an amalgam of human tissue, hair and teeth. There were eyes with irises pierced by molars or hairs or both and one of the jars showed what looked like a scalp growing fingernails instead of hairs. He got to the first tank. Floating in it was part of a torso with an upper shoulder, a lung that had grown outside of the ribcage and over the skin, an over-swollen abdomen, where a nose seemed to be protruding. The second tank showed most of a lower body, except it had no skin and the bones were bent. His eyes followed the line of water tanks until there seemed to be entire bodies in it. He walked passed a dozen of them, each one showing clear steps in the experiments that had been conducted. The last four tanks were containing full-grown man. Sasuke mentally sighed. Of course, with such decor, he had guessed who was behind it.

 _Where were you ?_ A fearful crying Hinata.

There were two tanks with Orochimaru’s clones, the first one had a hole instead of the nose and mouth, the other one seemed to be affected by a severe genetic disease as the body was bent in the most awkward ways. Each finger crisped in an aching way, the shoulders up in the air, the head deep into the sternum, as if it had no neck. The next five tanks were empty and after that a tank contained another body and another last one was empty. Sasuke’s heart sank into his stomach. The last body did not look like a white snake’s clone. He did not want to move, but he was made to.

 _Where were you ?_ Kiba, throat ripped out, Sai falling to chidori.

The body had been opened from the throat to cervix and emptied of its organs. The head was bent forward, but he could recognize it as it was. His body moved forward and pressed itself onto the glass. He moved to his left as to get a better view of the face. Sasuke cursed. The imposter had been telling the truth. He had not been using a jutsu. The raven was facing a floating clone of his seventeen self. Which could only mean that the fake one had been using cells that had been sampled from him when he was a teenager. The only sick fuck who could’ve done that was Orochimaru. One of his clones had transferred itself into his teenage body ? After so many years, the maniac still harboured the same obsession ? The dark-haired ninja felt violated, flashbacks pouring in his mind as he was confronted to his young mutilated body.

 _Where were you ?_ His hands grabbing Naruto’s hair and bare back.

He pressed his forehead against the tank. His vision focusing on the glass : on his reflection. His face was entirely black, two round yellow eyes looking back, an overstretched laced smile appearing.

 

Usagi no musuko : Son of the rabbit


	31. Zenno no kami

Ever since his summoner had implanted the Baruakkugan into him, he had been almost completely cut off from the world. As an endo tensei, he had no sense of touch whatsoever, no sense of taste and no sense of smell. The only remaining links to the living had been his sight, his hearing and his ability to talk. His caster determined when he was allowed to speak and everything had become pitch black since the eyes swap. Shino had to relay entirely on his hearing, which had been powerfully enhanced, as it was his last sense available. The blast of Naruto’s transformation and the hideout collapsing had been an overwhelming experience in which he thought of becoming deaf. He did not know if the dead could turn crazy, since he was not connected to any emotions, but he hoped he would be freed from the jutsu if his hearing was impaired.

In the last minutes, however, it had changed. He had been performing seals and shortly after that, a tiny vivid light had erupted from nothing and had grown into a blinding shinning ball. The best he could describe it was as a very bright star in a pitch-black night.

She had reappeared to the world, levitating, breathing in her freedom. She was instantly furious. She felt old and withered. The vessel chosen had merely enough life force of every tailed beast to sustain her presence. She ached for more chakra, her bones feeling brittle, each heartbeat pulsating violently through her every vein. She activated her Byakugan, the blood concentrating around her sockets estranged, as if made of sand. Whoever freed her wanted her very weak. She had to be careful.

There were only two of them, one being dead and brought back to life, his whole body entirely filled with insects. If he had been alive, he would’ve burst. There were so many of them that she could not even see his chakra points. The other one was using a vessel, a fake body, produced in an unnatural manner. She was disgusted by the way they used her chakra. She was enraged to see it be submitted to vile corruption. It proved, again, that they were not worthy of it.

“I am not an enemy, rabbit goddess.”

She looked at her interlocutor, the one controlling the living dead. She did not answer nor did she move.

“Let me yelp you, magnificent Kaguya.”

She gazed at the clone talking to her. His eyes were not his but they were genuine, they were not mere copies.

“Princess, I only wish to free you from your curse.”

She raised her hands, sharp bones protruding from her palms.

“I will make sure you can no longer be sealed !” he pleaded.

She froze.

“The sealing is merely a representation of the daburumo being shelled over again.”

This chakra remnant had deciphered her scrolls. If he knew so much about her history, he was then aware that she needed the tailed beast's life source as a whole to come back as the rightful goddess she was. If he comprehended so much, he had then orchestrated her return in a weak state, so she would not be a threat. Therefore, he was not an ally and she could not trust him. He probably wanted to make a deal.

She descended and put her feet on the ground. She lifted her arms and without any words she used the bansho ten’in technique to attract the dead and the clone to her. They were lifted from the ground and were sent flying straight into her hands. She was holding them effortlessly by the collar. She crushed them to the ground and paralyzed them producing black receivers that she planted through their every limb and along their spine.

“Now, we may talk. Why do you pretend to want to help me ?”

“There are no false pretences here, mother of chakra. You were once the ruler of these lands and I only wish to see you return to your former glory.”

“And why is that ?”

“Because I have no other ambition than to learn every jutsu and you are the source of this knowledge.”

“For the benefice of this conversation, let’s suppose I believe you. You ask of me to be my pupil in exchange for making me immune to the sealing technique.”

“You could never be sealed again.”

“How would you achieve that ?”

“As I said before, the technique is only the recreation of a shell covering the daburumo. But no shell could be cast over you, if there was no fruit.”

Kaguya stayed silent. Laughing was not something the Ootsutsukis did. However, having lived with humans for so long, she knew she would’ve laughed hysterically at this if she were one of them. But she was not. She did not even smile ; her eyes did not show any of the amusement such a ridiculous proposition could trigger. She had been love and since she had ingested the Earth’s fruit, she was only maddening evil. She grabbed the clone by the hair and lifted his head.

“And tell me, fake one, how would you have made me give up the power of the Earth’s daburumo ?”

He did not answer, but humans were fragile creatures that were unable to sustain great amount of stress. If they did not speak out loud what they were thinking, their body would speak for them. He unwillingly gave a quick look to the dead one beside him. She looked at the insects’ carrier. She would’ve shuddered if she had known fear. It only made her even madder. He would’ve used the insects to infiltrate her body, made them eat the fruit and keep the power of the daburumo to himself.

“You filth. You went to great lengths for this, but how could you ever imagine I would let go of the chakra and give it to you ?”

“The mazokus could’ve not withheld the power of the daburumo, they would’ve combust as they were eating it. I had no intention of obtaining your powers.”

“You are a fool for thinking I would part from my chakra.”

She let go of his head, utterly disgusted.

“Surely, rabbit goddess, you remember when you were worshiped and loved. You ruled over the lands in peace and harmony.”

“I was betrayed.”

“An inexcusable tragedy, princess… But I know you long for what you have lost.”

“I have lost none and gained all.”

“You were loved as the goddess you are. The Earth’s fruit made you different.”

“Love, hate… two faces of the same coin.”

“The sons, with whom you shared, Hagoromo and Hagura...”

“They are long dead !”

“It was a cruel fate for Emperor Tenji to choose his people over you.”

“No one will ever do so again !”

She launched onto Shino’s back and pressed a hand against his spine. She extracted chakra from his body at such a rate, that the mazokus that were left inside him instantly flew away. Those who could not escape quickly enough were emptied of their life source.

Where the hand was pressed against him, the Aburame felt a connection being established, something had awakened at Kaguya’s touch. Inside of his body, a form of energy had taken refuge and was growing fast. As this alien life was getting stronger, the entomologist felt his soul getting lighter and lighter. Soon, it would not be attached to this body anymore.

Kaguya’s blood froze, jammed into her veins as if too thick to travel. She stopped breathing, as if interrupting time and adverting the moment, not making it real. Her eyes went wide as she understood what was happening. She gulped strong quick breaths. She turned her eyes onto the clone, giving him a deadly look. It had been a trick. He had fooled her. All he wanted was for her to get mad and destroy the edo tensei. She was filled with such rage, but she could not move. The motion had already started.

Her palm had been connected with a piece of Jinmenju's core. The God Tree was reclaiming what was his. Her rage cascaded into a flow of tears. She clenched her teeth. She was trembling all over, as the wood from underneath her palm was using her chakra to grow and take over her hand.

“No ! No ! NOOOOOO !”

Screaming and trying to dislodge herself was all she could do. As she was putting everything into freeing herself, the black receivers vanished from the clone. He got up.

“Fascinating, isn’t it ? However strong we may be, we always encounter stronger.”

“I will put an end to your miserable life, scattered chakra !”

“Rest assured, I will be the one to kill you, once I have taken the daburumo.”

She forced a robotic laugh. “I will make you suffer.”

She raised her free hand, producing a bone knife in her palm. She was about to cut her other arm free. She was stopped in her movement, in mid-air. The clone had not moved. However, she did feel her vessel fight her. She was dumbstrucked by her rebellious host. She had never even felt such as a ripple of strength in any of her host before, she had been so immensely powerful. Now, she had to concentrate on keeping him at bay. Hence, she was losing her focus on keeping Jinmenju from growing back. The clone chuckled. She slowly turned her head, wanting to keep all of her mind into fighting back. The fake one was using the power of his eyes. She felt his domination over the body in which she had been cast in. The Sharingan user had awakened the dormant host who was fighting to break free from her possession. She could not keep both the tree and the host at bay.

Shino’s mind was freed of his summoner and taken over by Jinmenju. The star was the only thing he was focusing on. He had to take it, to make it his. He felt famished and excited, as it was there, just right there.

The Aburame’s arms and legs mutated into branches. One took hold of her other hand and put it to the ground beside the other one. Two other branches got to her lips and forced her mouth opened. They went down her throat, making her gag and miserably search for air. The boughs were tearing their way into her body, sending her into paralyzed fits of agony. She could not move nor scream. The only flow of movement was from the blood coming out of her. The branches stopped advancing and rolled around the inside core of her being, grabbing onto the essence of her power. It was a difficult fight. He only had a very small fraction of the power he used to harness. The branches gave one, two, three and a fourth pull, sending the weakened goddess to crash her head on the ground.

Give back my source of life Ootsutsuki Kaguya. Shino laughed hysterically ; he could feel the warm power into his grasp. His long wooden fingers illuminated by the source of life, of light, of his being. The power his mine, only mine, bunny. I will tear it from your ungrateful given soul. I will take it back. I am this life.

The Aburame violently thrust a third branch through her opened mouth. The princess lost control of her body as it started expanding, its shape ever changing, mostly adorning the image of a rabbit, but being overridden by flashes of the nine bijuus. Her body took extraordinary proportions, unable to contain the rebellious souls of the thousands of sons she had absorbed on Mangetsu. They had awakened and wanted the evil daburamo out of their mother. They concentrated the kiryoku within their core as to push out the fruit that cursed Kaguya. With one violent ripping guts pull, the fruit was out of her body, wrapped in branches, covered in mucus and blood. Simultaneously, the rabbit figure exploded, setting free the thousands of souls of Ootsutsukis, sending a crashing wave of chakra all around them. The clone covered his eyes with his forearm. The outburst sent the earth trembling. The souls shone over the sky and disappeared into thousands of falling stars disintegrating before hitting the ground. The Ootsutsukis vanished from existence, leaving a speck of dust over the Earth as the only proof of their former life.

A few feet away, the hideout was completely crashing down. He coughed. The air was full of alien residues and for a moment there was nothing to see. He stayed focus. He smiled, astonished. Amidst the chaos, he could feel the Original’s chakra. He was alive and very near to the surface. No doubt he would get here soon.  

When his surroundings had started to clear, he looked for a silhouette. What he was searching for had been sent flying tens of metres away. The kid was unconscious on the ground. He ran to his side. He opened the pocket where he had put the red pill and shoved it in Naruto’s mouth.

“I need your help, lover. I don’t know how many times you can actually be saved from death using this trick, but let’s say it has to work twice.”

He got up and started searching for the daburumo. The tree had taken quite a hit from the explosion and the branches holding the fruit had been broken. Where Shino’s body had been, only remained a patch of grey ashes. He picked up his reward. He pulled on the wooden fingers to get them off the fruit. The magnificent daburumo had the colour of blood and was surprisingly cold to the touch. Beside him, the alien women coughed, blood flowing slowly and continuously from her mouth. She was unconscious.

To the attention of both of his inert guests, he raised his hand holding his reward, as if it had been a glass of sake. He put the daburumo to his lips ; the first bite sent him retching. It tasted of advanced decomposition. His throat constricted, preventing him from swallowing. He took the first bite between his fingers, inhaled strongly as to open his larynx and pushed the piece of fruit into his gullet. The chunk did not want to go down, stuck in his oesophagus. He teared another piece of the daburumo, his hands turning crimson. He forced it down, allowing the first piece to tear its way to his stomach. He put his entire fist into his mouth and pushed down the remaining slice.

 

Zenno no kami : Mother of chakra


	32. The clone

On his other side, he heard stones rumbling, someone was approaching. A black hand appeared from beneath the ground followed by another one. They were followed by dark hair and the clone was ecstatic to discover that the Original had survived.

“That was the one element I could not predict or act upon. I did not know where Black Zetsu would show up when his mother would be unsealed. I had hoped he would not cause problems, but I had never dreamed that he would actually help !”

The clone suddenly took hold of his own abdomen and bent his head forward, his knees giving in. He soon found himself rounded up in a ball, then in a fetal position on the ground. Gritting his teeth, he put his hands over his face, growling and humming loudly, only stopping for a high-pitched laugh, before he resume grunting.

Sasuke didn’t know what was going on and he didn’t care. There was someone lying on the ground not very far from the imposter. He ran there, he gasped and would’ve stepped back when he saw Kaguya. Black Zetsu, however, made him crouch and caress her cheek. A few metres away, the clone arched his back to a breaking point, wheezing, digging his fingers into the earth. The goddess slightly opened her eyes. Black Zetsu took her hand and help her sit.

“Kaguya, guardian, I beg you to heal the Uchiha.”

She looked through the black coat and gave the raven an unfathomable look.

“Hamura…” she whispered.

She raised a hand, Black Zetsu put Sasuke’s hand in hers, the black film retrieving as she took hold of his arms. From the corner of his eyes, the dark-haired ninja saw the imposter go numb. All tension leaving his body, he lay unconscious on the ground. The Uchiha lost his sight when the guardian of love hugged him tight. He instantly felt better. Not only did all of his physical burdens and injuries were being lifted – the hunger, the thirst, the exhaustion, the pain of the chidori eletrochocs and heart attack trauma, he even regained sensation in his burned wrist – she was also opening a well-closed lid and filling its bottomless pit.

“Mikito…” he said, barely audible.

He was helpless against the terrible wave submerging him. From deep within his guts was rising a great metal crow, its feathers tearing through hiw every limb. The animal was fighting his way out of his constricted throat, making it impossible to breathe. He choked once, twice and thrice. Kaguya hold him tighter and Sasuke was sent in an uncontrollable burst of sobs. She soothed him, kissing his forehead.

“Son… there is much hate here. You will need the powers of the very firsts.”  

The goddess was stripped from his arms. Black Zetsu went back to Sasuke, covering his head to give him back his sight. Sasuke took a strong hook onto the forehead that sent him flat on his stomach. He received a nasty kick in his ribs, he gasped and rolled over. Naruto, turned ablaze, infused with sage art and Kurama’s chakra jumped over the raven, grabbing him by the shirt.

“YOU” He crossed-punched him in the nose. “KILLED” He gave another crushing hook to the left jaw.“HINATAAAAAAA !”

The Kage hit the Uchiha in a continuous flow of hooks seated over the raven’s abdomen. The blond could not stop, blinded by rage. The dark-haired ninja did not respond, as Naruto was speaking the truth.

“YOU…” the blond grabbed Sasuke’s head and crashed it against the ground. “YOU…” He hit over and over again the raven’s skull on the soil, tearing out his hairs. “YOU…” The Seventh headbutted him. “ The fu…” Naruto pushed his palms against his eyes, fingers tearing his hairs and growled loudly. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME, DATTEBAYO ?”

The jinchuuriki was hitting the dark-haired ninja’s chest with both forearms and fists. Sasuke could not look into Naruto’s eyes. He wanted to tell him he had not done it, but he could not be sure. Even if it was the unconscious clone doing… a part of him…

“LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME YOU DID NOT MURDER HER !”

The raven clenched his teeth, his eyes tingling. He still could not face the Kage. The Uzumaki grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hurled to his face, bearing fangs. With his other hand he cast a rasen shuriken. Black Zetsu took control of the raven’s arm and grabbed Naruto’s wrist. The blond’s face slowly became expressionless. The jutsu dissipated and in his eyes appeared a Sharingan.

“Very, very cute. It was very cute.”

The guardian’s body was enlaced in many wooden arms that had grabbed her wrists, ankles, waist and neck. She had been pulled to the tree that had kept growing. Beside her, the imposter was standing there, mouth, chin and torso covered in thick red daburumo juice. Two small wooden horns had grown on his head. In one single hand movement, he cast a gate of the great god onto Sasuke’s neck as to keep him from attacking. The jinchuuriki got up and stepped back. The clone put a hand on Kaguya’s shoulder.

“Guardian of love ?”

“You survived the process… Or… Jinmenju ?”

The teenager laughed. “Oh yeah, the spirit was transferred into me. He was dying without a proper body. He had been merely surviving in the little piece of wood. But he is weak, a God no more now and his powers are mine to use.”

“If he is not controlling you, why do you imprison me within the tree then ?”

“Well… I have been referred as a twisted motherfucker.”

The branches were pressing her onto the trunk and twisting around her limbs. She did not attempt to fight. She had no power whatsoever other than love and healing. Once she was securely imprisoned into the tree’s arms, the trunk slowly started to cover her.

“A clone inside a clone, Matryoshka ?” quipped the raven.

The adolescent turned his head and looked at Sasuke with a genuinely happy smile.

“Well, hey Original ! I’m so happy you made it through ! I have one final surprise for you.”

“I won’t have it. You are just a clone of the white snake. You may be in my body, you may have eaten the chakra fruit, you are still just a pale copy. I will end things here. I’ve seen the tanks : five of them were empty. You are truly the last one.”

“You really think you killed the real me, just like that, outside of the village ?”

It was as if a gallon of icy water had fallen over the raven. He stopped breathing.

“No, no, Sasuke-kun. That was a clone. Inside of that precious young body of yours is the real me.”

Orochimaru licked his teeth and smirked.

“And you should not be so criticizing of cloning. It has been of great service even to you Original.”

“I never tarnished the Uchiha name with degenerated cloning.”

The white snake laughed. “How do you think I control those eyes of yours ?”

It was as if the dark-haired ninja had been shocked by chidori, again. He stopped breathing, again.

“Do you really believe I gave you Itachi’s eyes ? That I implanted into you the most powerful Mangkyekyo since Madara ? You were so condescending and full of yourself. You never thought I could be using whatever I could scavenge from you.”

Sasuke had the reflex to take his hands to his face, near his eyes, forgetting they were empty orbits and that he could see only because of Black Zetsu.

“You… had planned this… twenty years in advance ?”

“I had not planned all of this. Back then, I only knew I did not want to give you the precious gems. When the Fourth Shinobi World War ended, I started to formulate this plan. The one big obstacle was that Kabuto had cloned your brother’s eyes for me. When he left my side and joined precious little Konoha, he was careful to destroy any trace of his work. I had to start back from scratch. Cloning is a difficult process.”

The raven tried to process it all. He ran a hand in his hair. “So you implanted Itachi’s eyes into you and controlled the power of my tomeos through them ?”

“Yes, I had to keep the kyuubi under control for an extended period of time. I would’ve not been able to wield such formidable chakra with only one pair of eyes, however powerful they were. So I used the powers of your brother’s eyes until they faded and then used yours up until they vanished. I alternate between both and every time your tomeos would’ve reactivated, I summoned their powers.”

“How did you know they were connected ?”

“Through the Aburame.”

Sasuke frowned.

“I have been impersonating Shino for three years in Konoha. At some point, I implanted Itachi’s eyes, the three-strip optic visor was very much of use to hide that fact. I was able to note that I could siphon your powers.”

The Uchiha clenched his teeth. “So it was you… You were the one to do it all… You killed them all.”

“Yes. Did you see it ?”

The Uchiha did not answer. His heart accelerated and his breathing became hectic. He put both his palms over his nose and mouth breathing into his hands. He was so relieved not to be the perpetrator of such horrendous crimes. He closed his eyes for a second. He didn’t want to care anymore ; he just wanted it to be over. He had found an awkward balance in his life, which had somewhat been working. But the last days had sent him spiralling down the same path he had walked most of his childhood and all of his teenage years. He was feeling very old and at the same time stuck in time.

“Don’t kid yourself, Sasuke-kun. You still butchered your Hokage’s spouse.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, a bit, a tiny bit of explaining... you have been patient enough. 
> 
> With nine chapters to go, of course there will be more answers given... but, now that the enemies are facing... you know a final fight is coming.
> 
> Someone will go down.
> 
> The question is... who ?
> 
> Do you believe I'm the kind to write happy or sad endings ? I've killed so many loved characters already... surely... it's over now, right ?


	33. Layer

Naruto was lying in the dark, face down and freezing – a new sensation for him. He was not getting used to it. He was held somewhere very far away, he did not know where. He did not remember how he got there nor how he could get out. There were some muffled screams. The air around was heavy, keeping him down. He had no strength nor any will to get up. A pressure was applied on each fibre of his muscles to ensure he could not move. He was pushed against the ground and he felt himself sinking into the floor. At some point, his body would go through it and he would fall, again, into a darker and even silenter prison. He had been falling deeper and deeper for many days now.

Each time he went through another level, he felt less able to fight the next transition. There was still a small voice in his head whispering that he had to fight back, that he could not let himself fall to the very last cell otherwise he would never come back from it. The conflict he had with himself was that he wasn’t sure he wanted to come back. He didn’t know why anymore, but he was very frightened of what was up there. He felt dirty, ashamed and worthless. He did not want anybody to see the filth he had become. Hidden from others and from himself was a better outcome.

His face went through the concrete, compressing and tearing his flesh. Below was always colder, eerier. For a brief moment, there would be something in his mind that did not want to go. But his torso would then go through, his ribcage crushed, pressing his every organ so he could not breathe and his heartbeat faded to the tiniest flutter. Once his upper torso would be free, he would be left hanging, legs on the upper level… most of the time to the point where he would lose consciousness. The tips of his fingers brushing the floor of the other cell.

He woke up. He did not bother to open his eyes. He didn’t know if he had slept for hours or only minutes. It was impossible to know in the endless pit. He was lying on his back and noticed he was feeling comfortably warm, cozy even. He still was unable to move. It made him smile. It seemed that every time he would wake up, he was immobilized in one way or another. The heaviness he had felt all over his skin since he had been trapped down there had lifted. He felt as though he was lying down on a sofa that had been customized specifically for him. Someone had put a heavy and warm blanket on top of him. It was covering him up to the chin. His feet and legs were seemingly drifting downwards. Maybe he was in a mud bath. Whatever he was in could not hold the weight of his body and he was sinking in. He had the reflex to bend his head backwards as to ensure he would be able to breathe to the last minute before he would disappear in whatever was engulfing him. It was a slow process and he was drifting on and off to sleep on his way to what he knew was the final state of this process. He did not feel like he cared that much about it.

As the smooth and thick silk was covering his eyes and mouth, he felt relieved. It would soon be all over. His face completely vanished. His heart did not even panic. He was drifting, deeper into an infinite mass of velvety liquid. After some time, his brain made the same choice as any drowning person : to inhale whatever was surrounding him, the urge for the lungs to get oxygen being too great. The oily fluid penetrated through his mouth and nose, enveloping his brain, invading his esophagus, his lungs, his stomach, his bowels, going through his circulatory system. As it was accessing his nervous system and going through each area of his cortexes, the invader accessed the temporal lobe and was methodically shutting down every memory he had, one by one.

The events of the last days were replayed in his mind, as if rewinded at high speed, each sequence associated with the aggravating pain. They vanished and he was happy to let them go. One by one, in a lightning-fast presentation, all of the places he had been or known in his life were presented and at the same time erased from his mind. The same process was repeated for the anecdotic events that were stored in his memory and of the people he knew of or had met that had been non-consequential in his life.

In a slower manner, he was presented with friends. Mostly the ninjas, with whom he had studied, fight and work with in Konoha. All of the teams of his teen hood, their senseis and villagers he had met through his travels. He was then seeing the most significant people in his life. Each of them would be shown in multiple memories, as they were now, as they were when he became an adult, a teenager, when he entered the academy and as a young child. As he would hit the oldest memories he had of them, they would disintegrate like a dried-up dandelion’s head in the wind. He wanted to fight back this amnesia game, but as soon as he could muster a will to fight he could not remember for whom he was fighting for… Iruka sensei, Yamato daijo, Kakashi sensei, Erro sennin, Sakura-chan… they all… they were not anymore.

Of his father, most of his images were as an edo tensei and of the time they had met when Naruto had captured Kurama’s chakra. That was also the only moment he had with his mother. He was holding dearly to those few memories and it seemed the intruder was having a hard time to get rid of them. It lasted less than a minute before they began fading and vanishing into nothingness. For a very brief moment, all of these disappearances made him feel like a hole had been punched into his chest, but the impression dissolved almost instantly. There was nothing to be remembered, nothing to be pained for.

He was shown countless images of Hinata, Boruto and Himawari. He could even hear their voices ; remember their own unique scent.

On special occasions, he did had the day off and spent it with his family. Which left so little time for him and his wife alone. She had never complained about it. He knew she had been hurting, but her colourless eyes had always been difficult to read. It pained Naruto to think that Hinata had seemed to be cursed to live a life oppressed by her social status : First as the successor of the Hyuga clan and now as the Hokage’s wife. She had always whispered his name so softly and she smiled gently when he would kiss her forehead. He believed she still loved him, but the burden of her life may have been more than what she would’ve wanted for herself.

He had asked her once ; was she unhappy about the life they lead ? About choosing him ? About him not being around for the children ? She had shaken her head. She had answered that there was no sadness when all your dreams came true. She told him that she hadn’t chosen him ; a choice implied that there were others. She said that the children were loved and that’s all they needed, really. He had caressed her silken hair. Her answers had confirmed all of his suspicions. Naruto knew about fulfilling dreams. You either live to regret not making them come true or realize that you only had a very superficial idea of what you wanted for yourself. Love was not enough. Hinata was trapped in the marriage of her dreams, but the husband was never there.

When Boruto had been born, Naruto had turned bat-shit crazy. The moment the nurse had put the baby boy that was no longer than a kunai in his hands, the Uzumaki had been struck by lightning. He had put his family under a 24/7 surveillance by numerous of his bunshins. After a couple of weeks, he had been so exhausted that Hinata looked positively radiant compared to him. Eyes transfixed on his wife, as she had been breastfeeding their son, she had looked up and smiled gently to her husband.

“Naruto… Your heart gave peace to the shinobi world, but it is bringing chaos to your family.”

The jinchuuriki had never been very good with riddles and the lack of sleep made it impossible to think and to analyze what she was saying.

“Naruto… Boruto will never be an orphan.”

The young father’s throat and heart had constricted. Hinata had seen right through him. The birth of their son had brought up all of these repressed feelings and he had been overwhelmed by the fear of him and his wife passing away. Naruto had sat on the bed ; all of his bunshins disappearing at once. He had let out a choking sound, wiped some tears, rested his head against his wife thigh and had fallen into a deep and sound sleep.

After that, panic had given way to love. He had wanted to give Boruto everything he, the Kage, never had : all that a parent may provide for his child. In other terms, he had totally spoiled him. Hinata had tried to refrain her way too enthusiastic husband, but Naruto had not listened. There was nothing the little boy could not do or could not have. The day their son made his entrance at the ninja academy was one of great shock for the Uzumaki.

His boy had been the less caring, the less forgiving, the less social, the less mature, the most outrageous, the most irascible and the most impossible of all the children there. To see him bossing everyone around, getting frustrated over every little thing, screaming at others to get what he wanted, had made Naruto’s heart sunk. The way his son behaved had made him ashamed. Not of his boy, it was not his fault, but of himself as a parent.

Later that night, as he had been staring at the ceiling with his eyes wide open, Hinata had put a hand on his shoulder.

“I failed,” he told her.

She had stayed silent, listening.

“I failed as a father.”

“… Naruto… You love your son and there is nothing more important than that.”

“It is not enough. As I saw Boruto today, I realized that the legacy left by my dead parents did more for me, than whatever I gave him in all those years.”

“He is your son, he will turn out to be a good person.”

“He will, believe it !”

From that day on, Naruto had turned into a strict paternal figure. It took some time to build his credibility, Boruto had been so used to the jelly figure. There had been some rough patches and it was still a bumpy path sometimes, but the Uzumaki had set his goals for his son and he would not go back on his word. Thankfully, Himawari had still been very young and the father had not completely turned her into an imperial dictator. She would be much easier to turned around if needed be. She was so much like her mother.

With each image, the children kept getting younger and younger. Buroto’s hair straightened, he gained a whisker on each cheek and Himawari lost all of them. The children had been oblitared in Naruto’s mind and replaced by the memory of himself and Hinata as boy and girl. The seal on the jinchuuriki’s abdomen broke and Kurama was set free. As his friend, the beast bumped fists with the boy. However, he turned around as the monster he used to be. Nine tails attacked the little Hyuuga, pierced her tiny body with one of his humongous claws and ate the small girl in one quick gut-wrenching crunch. Horrified, the Uzumaki flee the scene, his tiny legs not being agile at all. He stumbled into his own too big clothes. He pushed his torso upwards using his shaky arms and hands. It took him three tries to be able to roll on his back. He could only cry and agitate his arms and legs, as he was only a newborn facing a gigantic evil fox.

Kurama was growling furiously, his eyes exhibiting Sharingans. The monster’s face was getting closer and closer and Naruto was screaming, terrified. The two enormous eyes were facing him, he could see his reflection into it. The sight made him silent, his inferior lip trembling. He was there, so small and fragile and to his side, there was another baby : A dark-haired boy, eyes closed. The blond wailed : his naked body transforming into an agonizing searing flame. The demonic chakra had taken hold of him, everything becoming black and red. The heat was making him go mad, melting him into one horrifying vision of all of his past and present selves : the baby, the child, the teenager, the adult, the fox, the friend, the ninja, the husband, the father, the Kage, the bunshin, the careless, the strong-willed, the laughing bloke, the crying exuberant, the ramen obsessed, the chakra wielder. He turned his head to the side, facing the baby, the child, the teenager, the adult, the ninja, the raven, the friend, the traitor, the enemy, the husband, the father, the advisor, the cold-hearted, the sarcastic quip, the silent treatment, the revenge obsessed, the chakra wielder.

“Please… I can’t…” said the fifteen-year-old Naruto. The blond baby vanished into the flames. “I beg of you…” choked the twentieth years old. The Kage melted away. “Help…” whispered the five years old.

The Uzumaki screeched, as the fire was charring each layer of his identity, killing that part of his identity. “Make… make it stop…” sobbed the twelve years old.

He extended his arm to reach for the dark-haired man, the father and the husband died doing so. The friend could not open his mouth to plea for help, before perishing. Then, the burning chakra intensified onto an unknown identity, a layer Naruto had never acknowledged.

“Sa... Sasuke…”

The Uchiha woke up, he kept his eyes closed but opened his mouth. Out of it came a horrifying black shadow that crawled onto the blond, went into his nose and in his mouth. He was choking, the shadow feeling like acid being poured in his throat, oesophagus and stomach. His insides were melting and he feared of becoming hysterical as he began to spew it all. The raven opened his eyes. They were white and blank. Veins appeared around his sockets as he was summoning powers. The Sharingans in the fox’s eyes vanished and everything was darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like that particular chapter. I hope you enjoyed it too.


	34. Worthless lives

“What is the purpose of all of this, white snake ?”

“It has always been the same : To gain the knowledge of every jutsu.”

“So many lives for this…”

“Worthless lives… nothing compared to what is about to be gained.”

“About ?”

“I still need the chakra of all the bijuus.”

“You… As if I’m going to let you do that !”

Orochimaru looked at the Uchiha with a false puzzled look, followed by a fake shocked expression. “I hate to bring it to you, Sasuke-kun, but so far, you have been letting me get away with absolutely everything I had planned… but for this last piece of the puzzle, that is exactly why he is here.” With a nod in his direction, the teenager indicated Naruto.

“You will not be extracting Kurama from Konohagakure’s Hokage !”

“Oh ! Are you trying to subdue me by being formal ? Gosh, you are too charismatic for me to continue on this evil path ! Here is the thing : I will be taking the fox kid’s tailed beast, but at the very last minute, when I have sealed all of the other beats within me… Since he is extremely strong and hard to control, it is your task to fatigue him while he fights you to death. After all, you are, as they say, the only one who’s able to challenge him.”

With that said, the Sannin lifted the gate of the great god that immobilized the raven and the Uzumaki launched himself onto the dark-haired ninja. The white snake’s Sharingans started to bleed as he was summoning the other tailed beasts.

Everytime Sasuke tried to get to Orochimaru ; the blond cast thousands of bunshins around him. Even though they were not strong and were easily disposed of, the jinchuuriki would incessantly cast others. The Uchiha had gone through a whole regiment of them with a powerful strike of his chidori blade, but the Kage had simply cast another bunch. It occurred to the raven that his former master did not care if the Uzumaki died invoking too many bunshins, since it would be that much easier for him to gain Kurama. On ther other hand, his former master did not want the dark-haired ninja to interfere while he was absorbing the bijuus chakra. Alas, the raven being deprived of his eternal Mangekyos did not have the powers to take down the Sannin as he was right now. He needed his Hokage’s help and so he did not want to deplete him of most of his chakra. Still, if Kaguya could heal him and replenish his chakra, she could do it for the blond. He looked in her direction ; she had nearly been completely swallowed by the tree. He would have to find a way to free her and a way to cut the Shanringan’s link between the caster and the jinchuuriki puppet.

How he would manage any of that while Naruto was constantly attacking him and preserving his chakra for the real fight against Orochimaru was a tricky question.

The first beats to show up were the one without jinchuurikis, running wild. Two tails Matabki, five tails Kokuo, six tails Saiken and seven tails Chomei. His former master sealed them within him as they appeared. The whole process was shockingly quick, the bijuus not being able to fight the Sharingans. The white snake’s body was taking in the transition quite well, considering the humongously vast amount of chakra it was given to absorb. His face was covered in blood and he was not moving an iota. He was either too concentrated on his task or in too much pain to move or the absorption process rendered him immobile.

Sasuke cringed, he was standing out, a black raven in a sea of blond tornadoes. To either stop Orochimaru or save Kaguya, he needed to disappear. To do that, he would’ve cast a gentjutsu or a dimensional portal. Susannoo would’ve blocked Naruto’s attacks and protect Kaguya. Using the deva path, he would’ve pulled Orochimaru to his side, making it impossible for him to summon the bijuus. He could not even tell where was the real Naruto amongst the bunshins.

“Hn…”

He had been an imbecile. He had been solely focused on the powers he did not have. He would use the Kage’s techniques against him.

“Tajuu kage bunshin no jutsu !”

He was not able to produce as much bunshins as his Kage could, but the ocean of Uzumaki was now fighting a sea of Uchihas. They were swarming all around them. All of his clones moved in unison as to hide his real motives. He was able to see that Son Goku, four tails and Yagura, three tails had answered the calling. Sasuke punched bunshins, used his sword, his chidori, his katon grand fireball and even his kunais. Slowly but surely, the army of fighting replicates were closing in around where Kaguya was being held. All that was left visible was her nose and eyes. When the battle had taken its ground with the tree in the middle of it, making it invisible amongst the fight, the jutsu and the noise, the raven used his sword to cut the trunk and free one of Kaguya’s arm. He dodged a rasengan that perforated the mass of blonds and black-haired bunshins in on a long line of smoke. He caught the hand of a duplicate attacking him from behind, swirled and threw it against the tree, making it disappear. He sent four of them in smoke with a backflip sword slash followed by a somersault on the side that ended with a drop kick. He cut the guardian’s other arm free. He ducked as to avoid a rasenshuriken that destroyed so many bunshins that everything was clouded in smoke for a moment. A voice rose from behind :

“What are you trying to do, Sasuke ?”

The Uchiha turned around. The last of his replicates vanished in a puff of smoke. The Uzumaki’s clones all turned their head in his direction. He was certain he had the real one in front of him. He took the time to give him a good look. Naruto was breathing heavily, but contrarily to the raven he was not sweating at all. His face was emaciated, he had deep black circles under his eyes and his lips were dried up and cracked. The dark-haired ninja was not so worried about sleep or food deprivation, but the Seventh was clearly very dehydrated. The last time he had had to drink was probably at the summit. The Kage was in worst shape that he had thought. The Uchiha needed to settle this fight quickly, as Orochimaru did not seem very conscientious about Naruto’s life. Sasuke wiped his forehead and nose with the sleeve of his shirt.

“Insult him,” quietly spoke Black Zetsu.

“What ?”

“Kaguya has a plan : insult him, make him mad. He has to get near you.”

“What I am trying to do you ask ? Isn’t obvious ? What… have you divided your brain with all of your thousands of bunshins… dobe ?”

“Oh ! …” the blond looked at him with a perplex expression.

“Don’t bicker like a schoolboy, Sasuke,” muttered Black Zetzu.

“How did you put it ?...” The Hokage put a finger over his mouth, looking up, pretending to be thinking.

“Get to him, so he’ll want to rip your throat,” whispered his eyes angrily.

“Yeah…. Exactly… like when we were thirteen,” said mockingly the Uzumaki.

“Don’t you want to save your friend ?” asked incredulously his black companion.

The jinchuuriki turned around and raised both arms to the audience of his duplicates who started to laugh out loud. The sight of the blond's back triggered a flash in Sasuke’s mind. He chewed on his cheeks until he bled, clenched his fists.

Yeah… he could be the one to save his friend, this time.

The Uchiha gulped down his angriness, cocked his head to the side and forced a velvet voice : “Nice ass you’ve got there… Naruto-kun.”

All of the Kage’s bunshins vaporized at once. The Seventh shivered from head to toes and rounded up his shoulders, involuntarily protecting himself. He turned his head around, the whiskers on his cheeks thicker, bearing fangs, his eyes wild.

The raven smirked and licked his teeth.

The Hokage darted and jumped onto the dark-haired ninja, grabbing him by the shoulders and making his back collide with the tree. He hurled in the raven’s face. Black Zetsu jumped out of his host, making him instantly blind. The jinchuuriki let go of the Uchiha, emitting a choking sound. A delicate hand was placed against Sasuke’s chest.

“Do not fear, Hamura. I will give you the powers you need.”

Somewhere near him, Naruto was gagging, fighting to breathe. Two cold fingers opened the raven’s left eyelid and an eye was implanted there. Adjusting to new eyes was always a painful process and so the Uchiha kept his eyelid closed. Small fingers opened his right eyelid and implanted an eye into his socket. Kaguya put both of her cool hands over his eyelids and proceeded to heal them. The Seventh was thrashing on the ground. The guardian lifted up her hands, the dark-haired ninja frowned and slowly opened his eyes. The Uzumaki was on all four and vomiting massive amount of black goo. He was rejecting the presence of Black Zetsu inside his body. When he was finally able to breathe again, he fell flat on the ground. Sasuke picked him up and dragged him to Kaguya. He looked at her, her eyes closed, blood dripping from her eyelids and flowing onto the tree’s trunk. Like a materialized shadow, Black Zetsu went up the tree and gave her back her sight. Her white face had been given round yellow eyes. The raven put his Hokage down, took out his sword and freed the guardian from her wooden prison. He offered a hand as to help disentangle her from the tree. She went immediately to Naruto, whom she took in her arms.

“Hagoramo…” she whispered. She was caressing his hair and humming a lullaby.

“Kushina…” said a smiling seemingly dreaming Kage.

“What are you ?” asked a dumbfounded Uchiha.

She looked up to him. “I was wrongfully named the mother of chakras. I am a mother, the mother.”

“The mother of whom ?”

“Of all…”

She looked back at the jinchuuriki and added : “This son is not how I left him the last time. He… where is most of his life source of the land ?”

“Excuse me ?” asked the raven.

The guardian looked around. “There.”

She lifted a hand and the earth shattered where she was focusing her attention. There was a choked implosion from beneath it and a geyser of red chakra erupted. The sky became one heavy cloud of chakra thunderstorms. In one slow movement, Kaguya summoned all of the chakra back into Naruto. His chest lifted, his back arched. She closed her fist as to seal it within him. He gasped back to consciousness. The guardian’s head was transpierced by a tree branch as another wooden arm simultaneously perforated her ribcage, right through her heart.


	35. Being played

Black Zetsu glided from Kaguya’s eyes sockets to cover her entire body. Sasuke cut both branches in a swift sword movement. Naruto, waking up being showered in blood, was too shock to move for a second, before rolling on his side and getting up. The guardian fell on her side, her eyes empty of any signs of life.

“Well, that little show of yours certainly did get my attention,” said the adolescent.

The Uzumaki wasn’t sure of the reaction he was supposed to exhibit. He did not know where he was ; the goddess had been unsealed and gruesomely killed on top of him. He was covered and dripping of her blood. He wiped his face with his hand and spit some that had gotten into his mouth. To his left, was standing a teenage Uchiha with Ootsutsuki’s horns on his head. To his right, was another raven, this time adult, who turned his head to look at him. The Kage’s jaw dropped when he saw that instead of his Mangekyo and Rinnengan he had Byakugans. He looked from one another and signed a release.

“Kai.”

“You are not under genjutsu…” both Sasuke said at the same time.

The Seventh laughed.

“Hokage-sama, we’ve always been able to detect each other’s presence ever since our meeting with the Sage of six paths. Where I am ?” said the adult black-haired ninja.

The jinchuuriki nodded to the man on his right. “Then who is this ?”

“Oh… Naruto-kun…” said Orochimaru in a vicious tone. The teenager’s presence faltered and disappeared. He teleported himself behind the blond, brushing his cheek over his ear. “You know me… we’ve played together.”

The skin of the adolescent was cold, hard, a mix of tanned leather and glazed porcelain. The Kage jumped forward, crouching involuntarily, hands over his head, all of his memories coming back in one awful breath. It was a snake… a vile serpent that had been using him all this time. The Uchiha had gotten his sword through the back of the Sannin, piercing his liver. His former master’s head made a one hundred and eighty degrees turn to look at his attacker.

“Really ? … The liver ? … With your sword ? … Weird move Sasuke-kun… it’s as if you don’t want to kill me.”

The adolescent teleported himself away. The raven went to the Uzumaki’s side.

“I’m sorry, I was not aware of his new powers.”

The jinchuuriki got up, put his hands on his knees, lost in thoughts. He straightened up. He did not look at his advisor. For once, it was the Kage’s face that was unreadable.

“Naruto… I didn’t… I did not…”

The Seventh was still not looking at him. His eyes were lost forward. Hinata’s voice resonated in his head : _He didn’t do it_.

“I know,” he simply answered.

There was a moment of heavy silence.

“I told that snake I would kill the fuck out of him. I never go back on my word.”

The Hokage turned ablaze. The teenager had teleported himself back to where he had been summoning the tailed beasts. At his feet were two immobile bodies. Sasuke and Naruto ran to the seemingly rendezvous point. Orochimaru was smirking. On the ground, the Konoha’s ninjas immediately recognized Choujuurou, Kirigakure’s Rokudaime Mizukage and Kurotsuchi, Iwagakure’s Yondaime Tsuchikage.

The Uzumaki stopped dead in his tracks. He was instantly brought back to the Kage summit. His peers had gone through with what they thought was right for their country.  They had become jinchuurikis as to insure the safety of their people and it had cost them their lives. It was no time for mourning, however, but the Seventh did not want to fight where their bodies lay. The blond signed two bunshins who took the deceased Kages and brought them beside Kaguya and Black Zetsu.

“I’ve summoned all of the tailed beasts, Naruto-kun. I suggest you wait for your friends… you don’t stand a chance against me,” said the white snake on a syrupy tone.

The jinchuuriki flexed his fingers thinking of Killer B and Gaara. “I’ll be feeding you your own dick, reaping your throat, bashing your brains out and then shoving your beheaded fuck face up into your ass before you lay a finger on them !”

The Uzumaki’s vulgarity took the Sannin by surprise. The latter laughed. “Resentment much, fox lover ?”

“Much. Very much so, sadistic piece of shit.”

Naruto produced a phenomenal amount of bunshins in Kurama mode. They all cast a Rasengan and a Rasen shuriken in each hand. In total fury, the Kage’s fighting strategies that were always a bit straightforward had receded to simply being blunt. However, as he was ridiculously strong, he kept Orochimaru occupied, while Sasuke thought of a better strategy. The white snake simply teleported out of the Hokage’s throwing trajectory, but as there were so many shadow clones he manifested many barriers : quintuple rashomons, Susanoooo, he used the tough shell of three tails Isobu, an armour of molten rock granted by four tails Son Goku, he went over partial transformation to use the tails of one of the many juubis he had sealed to take down the bunshins surrounding him. He even willingly took a hit here and there. Their opponent was testing his powers all while laughing, laughing hysterically, his face covered in the blood of his eyes.

The Sannin cocked his head to the side and gave the Uchiha a smirk. Orochimaru lifted his hand and signalled the raven to come for him. The black-haired ninja cast Susanooo and caught the teenager in his purple hand. The Seventh used this opportunity to blow some steam and punch continuously the white snake in the face while a bunshin was immobilizing him with black receivers : rods that pierced his body and went through the ground. The Sannin did not flinch to any of Naruto’s hit, keeping his eyes on Sasuke and invariably smirking, while opening one by one the fingers of the Susanno holding him as smoothly as if opening the door to a saloon. The blond went for a knee hit to the nose. The teenager’s head bent backwards, he bounced it back and replaced his nose in a crunch before resuming laughing. Enraged, the jinchuuriki delivered a fatal kick to the neck, which broke the Sannin’s spine. His head was lolling absurdly to the side, but that did not refrain him from laughing. The black receivers started vibrating with such force that they were expelled from the adolescent’s body. The Uchiha imprisoned him in a chibaku tensei, creating a black orb with Orochimaru in the middle, attracting matter from all around and sealing the white snake in his own miniature planet.

“Sasuke, we don’t seal the bastard, we gut him !”

“I know, Seventh.”

As soon as the chibaku tensei formed, it began dissolving, before completely disappearing under a desert imperial layered funeral that was protected with many seals.

“He wants to buy time, Hokage-sama,” said the Kazekage.

Gaara was levitating on a sand disk, arms crossed, face impassible. On the ground, Killer B was waving his hand in large movements.

“Godaime Kazekage,” said respectfully the raven.

“Sasuke…” answered the red head, a bit baffled by the Byakugans.

“OI ! That was a long run, have we missed the fun ?” shouted the Kumo’s ninja.

“Four red yang formation, everyone !” indicated the raven.

Each of the four shinobis placed themselves on a corner of the pyramid and signed the seals to create the most powerful barrier ninjutsu provided, imprisoning Orochimaru in a final red box. Maintaining the barrier, however, was a heavy chakra cost for each of them, Naruto losing half of his bunshins doing so.

“Who’s under that ? The one that has been controlling Shakuka and Gyuki ?”

“Yes. It’s Orochimaru. The Byakugans I’ve been gifted are overpowering those of the white snake, hence your freedom regained.”

“Do we have a plan, we’re here to land a hand !” chanted the eight-tails jinchuuriki.

“We are forcing him to create a time-space portal,” stated the black-haired ninja.

“Dimensional travellers are vulnerable when they reappear… We’ve seen that already,” analyzed the red head.

“How do we know where he will show up ?” asked the Seventh.

“I’ve let him expose his ability before and I was able to see his trail or rather follow the trace of his chakra in between dimensions… Be ready… He’s moving.”

The black-haired ninja invoked Sasunoo and lifted up into the air, turned around, got his sword out.

“NOW !”

As the white snake materialized into the air, Sasuanoo’s sword went through him, tearing his body into two. Gaara invoked the sand to take hold of the Sannin’s body, crushing his bones. Killer B and Naruto jumped into the air, performed a double lariat, beheading the teenager.

There was a giggle. Where Sasuke’s sword had hit, their enemy had divided his body to create a lava clone. Half of his body had been taken over by the sand and the clone had taken the other half. It was the bunshin that had taken the Hokage’s and B’s hit. Sprouting four different beast's tails, he knocked his opponents on the ground. The crushing force cracked through the ultimate defence of the Susanno and sand armour, eliminating all of the Uzumaki’s bunshins who took the hit for the real one and buried the Kumokagura’ shinobi deep into the ground. The teenager shot lava onto the sand over his body, which crystallized and shattered. Every bone on his left side had been broken. Gaara used the sand to rescue Killer B from his underground coffin, the Seventh gave the latter a fist bump to give him some of his chakra as to heal him. The Sannin summoned the power of the six bijuus inside of him to create a gigantic tailed beast bomb. The Kages and the eight tails jinchuuriki united their tailed beast mode to counter with their own bomb. The Uchiha used the preta path to absorb as much chakra as he could from their opponent and the deva path to repel the bomb as far as possible from the ground. The explosion that ensued sent a shock wave that destroyed the landscape over kilometres and rendered the combatants deaf for a moment, their ears ringing. It was all the time Orochimaru needed to create another body that found his way through his mouth.

Looking down at his opponents, that were sweating and cursing, an angry look on their faces, the white snake was filled with ecstasy. He was sent yet into another fit of laughter. He teleported himself next to each ninja in flashes of kicks and punches. Sasuke aiming at him with Indra’s arrow, Gaara’s sand floating in the air, transforming into sharp harpoons to take him down, Naruto sending bunshins to cover the sides and back of his companions and himself, Killer B partially transformed, using the eight tentacles on his back and his great speed to catch the teenager.

Orochimaru caught Indra’s arrow with his bare hands and sent it back with double force to his caster. He crystallized with lava every grain of sand and made walls out of them for protection. He was faster than Kumo’s shinobi and if endangered by eight tails Guyki, he simply answered with the powers of the six tailed beasts at his disposal. What he enjoyed the most though was to take each and every one of the fox kid hits and discover there was no amount of injury his body could not sustain.

At some point, he had produced four chakra arms that grabbed the four ninjas by the collar and were holding them up.

“Is that all you’ve got ?”


	36. The end of the valley

Orochimaru was laughing again. If he was about to die today, it was of laughter. He used his two free hands to wipe his eyes of blood and tears. He still hadn’t collected one tail Shukaku, eight tails Gyuki and nine tails Kurama, but he already was far more superior than the most extraordinary ninjas this world had to offer. He was about to crush them like little insects, like the miserable creatures they were. He would end them in all the supremacy of his powers. He wanted to see the terror in their eyes seconds before they’d die. He lavished to see them realize that they were feeble compared to him, that he was invested with chakra of a magnitude that had been beyond their reach. But he felt playful and wanted to postpone this moment for a bit. He repeated his question again :

“Is it really, really all you’ve got ?”

“No. That is all you’ve got, white snake,” answered a smirking Sasuke.

The teenager’s mouth overflowed with blood. The clothes covering his abdomen were soaked and seeping of his crimson fluid. He felt all of the bijuus powers leaving him. The chakra arms holding the ninjas disappeared and everything around him swirled and evaporated like in a foggy window. He went down as the four shinobis were going up and away. His vision faded, reality was settling in.

His left eye stayed obstinately closed and the right one barely opened. The rays of sunrise blinding him and reflecting on a metal surface beneath him. He could not breathe through his nose. It proved difficult to get air through his mouth with the constant blood flow and his incapacity to swallow due to his unresponsive broken bottom jaw that was uselessly hanging. He found himself on his knees, being held in a seating position by a sword that went from his back, through his liver and into the ground. A burgundy line was running along the blade and joining the pool of blood in which he was bathing. He had so very little chakra left. He was surrounded by the corpses of hundreds of white snakes charred by black flames. His sight was losing focus, he was drifting away, out of consciousness. He lifted a hand and put his bottom jaw back into place, the pain making him whine.

“Yeah… I may have punched you once or twice… maybe a tad more… you could say way much more… okay, they had to stop me. I would’ve killed you, but we needed you alive,” said the Hokage.

Orochimaru looked up. He had to shade his eyes using his forearm. Bathed in the radiant light of early morning, the fox and the raven were looking down at him, their faces grave. The guardian, beside them, seemed troubled and sad, but it was hard to decipher with those round yellow eyes. In Sasuke’s forehead, the Rinne Sharingan was closing.

He had been dreaming… he had been dreaming all along.

He emitted weird little noises, like a piglet being bled white. The Seventh and his advisor realized he was laughing.

“Why ?”

“Are you seriously asking why I demolished your vicious ugly face ?” asked the blond, utterly disgusted.

The Sannin made a slow no movement with his head.

“Why… alive ?”

“Oh, they wanted you dead quickly… at first. I explained, however, that you needed to stay alive through the extraction process if they wanted the tailed beasts to live. Since you have ingested the chakra fruit, as long as they were sealed within you, they were linked to you through life and death,” explained the guardian.

“Where… bijuus ?”

“We had a little express Kage summit. It was decided that the tailed beasts needed to be free forever and never more used by shinobis. Therefore, Kaguya opened a space-time portal through her dimension and her world, a portal only her can open and close. They have been sent there, their real home. The same will be done for Shukaku, Gyuki and Kurama when their jinchuuriki will pass…” answered the Hokage.

“Where… …Kazekage… Gyuki jinchu… ?”

“I suppose you can’t deny answering the questions of a dying man… Killer B was given the task of repatriating the body of the deceased Mizukage to his hometown, and Gaara of the departed Tsuchikage,” said the black-haired ninja.

“Yeah, it’s a bit against protocol : as at least two members of different countries should’ve been assigned as witnesses of your death. Although, considering our recent and  past history with you, a little bend in the rules has been approved,” shared the Uzumaki.

Orochimaru put a hand on the blade of the sword. “Why… kill… like… this ?”

Sasuke smirked. Naruto clenched his teeth out of angriness.

“Well... Kaguya also explained that the chakra fruit would prevent you from dying even if as a jinchuuriki you had been separated from your bijuus. Although, the fruit needs to be linked to a life form to subsist. So, I planted my sword through your liver, making you enter the dream at the precise moment you turn your head around to look at me. It’s a slow death, to give you roughly twenty minutes to live. This way, we had all the time we needed to extract the tailed beasts. Normally, you would’ve not died from such an injury, but since you did not heal it, while happily dreaming… well, here we are. It’s two birds with one stone really : when you die, the chakra fruit will cease to exist too,” clarified the black-haired ninja, arms crossed.

“The others also agreed that it was the best form of torture they could imagine on the spot for you. You will not die by the use any of our knowledge of jutsu, or any of our abilities. You will not be brought down, but simply slaughtered like a common pig,” justified the Kage, pouting, obviously not happy with this turn of events.

The white snake squealed like a little pig again. He put a hand over a dead serpent, mimicking a caress, without ever touching it, the black flames still at work.

“Yeah, we’ve also gotten rid of those snakes that inhabited you, so you could not produce another body or get away using this final or original form of yours. Now, I wanted you conscious for the next part.”

The raven closed the last two fingers of his only hand. Orochimaru understood right away he wanted his brother’s eyes back. The Sannin planted his fingers into his sockets, ripped the organs and squashed them into his hands, sending him into a fit of screams and hysterical laughter. The black-haired ninja cursed.

Kaguya got to her knees, soaking her dress with his blood. She looked him in the eyes, her lips trembling.

“I cannot hold you, son. I love you, like a mother always love her child, but I cannot hold you, my dear… I cannot let my love heal you… I have to let you go.”

The white snake summoned the strength to smirk and lick his teeth one last time. He heaved some blood once, twice and thrice. On the fourth time, he simply stayed there, gagging, choking on something. Little hands appeared on the edge of his lips. Naruto and Sasuke took a fighting stance. The guardian lifted her hand and ordered them still. Slowly, with each contraction of his stomach, Orochimaru pushed out a dark-haired little head. Once the shoulders were out, the entire body slipped out. The teenager’s body fell to the side, exhaling one last time. Naked, lying on his back in the blood, a child of no more than two years old was looking at them.

Kaguya extended her arms and trembling hands, the little boy did the same. “My duty is to love all…”

She took the small child into her arms, he rested his head against her shoulder and started sobbing with all of his might.

“Mama ! Mama !” wailed the little one.

“Hush, hush, son, my duty is to love all of my children,” she whispered, weeping, caressing his head.

The teenager’s body turned grey and crumbled into ashes. As he did so, a longline white snake’s head appeared from under the embers. The Uchiha was about to sever its neck with his sword, but the guardian stopped him again with a single hand movement. She said a silent no with her head. She blinked her eyes slowly, begging him to let the snake be.

“My duty is to hold tight all of my children.”

The snake slithered out of the cinder nest. It went directly to Kaguya, leaving a tiny grey trail behind him, making his way up onto her dress. The guardian was sobbing uncontrollably, hugging the child tight, the round yellow eyes following the serpent.

“I am here child, you are safe.”

The little boy stopped crying all of a sudden and in his high-pitched voice, but with clear and very articulated words he said : “Tell me Sasuke-kun… Do you really believe that I had you at my total disposal… and that I only and simply implanted Itachi’s cloned eyes into you ?”

With that said, he plunged his hand over the mother’s breast and grabbed her heart. Kaguya gasped as he took out a tailess rabbit and broke its neck on the spot.

“Fun fact : Did you know that Ootsutsuki Kaguya is the very first jinchuuriki ?”

The white serpent went for the boy’s throat and bit him over and over in quick consecutive strikes. The toddler let out shrieked cries, falling backwards. It took only a few seconds before his body started convulsing, his mouth producing thick saliva covering his chin. His tongue, face and throat swelled and his skin turned red, violet then blue. His feet and hands twitched, his tiny limbs submitted to spasms that kept on going on even though he had passed. In his right hand, he was still clutching the broken tiny hare.

Sasuke and Naruto were not looking, as they had gone by the guardian’s side. Black Zetsu had covered her entire body.

“I am maintaining her alive with the little chakra I have, but it won’t do, you have to save her !” he pleaded.

“How do we do that ?” asked the raven.

“Her heart belonged to the land… it was of nature… she needs… another heart... from Mangetsu… our home planet.”

“… So what can we do about it ? Isn’t she the only one who can open a portal to there ?” answered a confounded black-haired ninja.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. The Uchiha had not understood. He had to act before he did. It only took so little courage. He gave a sideways glance to the tiny curled up body. Orochimaru had played them until the very end. He thought of Boruto and Himawari… Hinata had been wrong. He bit his tongue till blood flowed in his mouth, so the pain would prevent him from crying.

“You do not understand. Kaguya is not who you think she is. I know she has caused great pain in the past, but you have to believe me. She is the guardian of love, she cannot be allowed to die.”

“The guardian of love from the moon[1] ? Really ? Sounds like a TV show for little girls like Himawari,” quipped the raven.

“Listen, mockingjay ! If she, guardian of love, dies, every jinchuuriki dies too !”

“Convenient for you to say. You would say anything to save your mother.”

“My mo… I am not her son ! Black Zetsu never existed ! I am the residual hate and love of Hinoka, her lover, who lived through Kaguya.”

“Son or lover, it doesn’t change the fact that we still cannot do a thing to save her !”

Hinoka turned the guardian’s head to look at the blond. “You really think that Hagoramo and Hurama sealed her because of the love they bore to their mother ? She was horrible to them, consumed by hate ! They sealed her because her death meant their own and the trespassing of the tailed beasts and of anyone hosting them… but more than that, with her would die dreams, hope, friendship, love, everything that ties sentient life together.”

The raven’s eyes shot wide open. He was struck by lightning as he came to comprehension. He locked gaze with Naruto who knocked him out with a swift and solid uppercut. The Uchiha was sent flying backwards. The Hokage put his five fingers over the faded seal around his navel. He cringed. He thought of the tailed beasts, of Killer B and Gyuki, of Gaara of the sand and Shukaku… and Kurama.

“Kuso.”

He exhaled. With a trembling hand he got out a small bubble into which was sleeping a pup. Dying alongside Kaguya, the fox, losing quickly all of his chakra had reverted to his original state. Naruto shoved the kit into the guardian’s chest and fell sideways. She breathed back to life, inhaling all the air her lungs could take. Sasuke, stunned, pushed himself into a seating position with both hands. His eyes fell on the immobile blond. He shoved the guardian of love out of his sight.

“Naruto !” He went on his knees over the Kage, putting a trembling hand on his shoulder. “Naruto !” With his fist he took hold of his shirt and shook him angrily.

“UZUMAKI NARUTO ! SEVENTH RASENGAN-DOES-IT-ALL HOKAGE !”

Kaguya put a hand on the Uzumaki’s head, giving him back some chakra. The Seventh’s eyelids fluttered and opened lazily. The Uchiha’s throat swelled, his eyes watering. The guardian left the two men alone.

“Na… ru… to…” the raven sobbed, choking, tears rendering him blind.

The black-haired ninja could not find the words, submerged in many conflicting feelings. The blond was looking at him, crying silent tears. He felt strangely at peace, but could not hide from the one regret shadowing it all.

“Naruto...”

The black-haired ninja’s head was spinning. _Now. Say it. Say it. He’s leaving, leaving forever. There’s nothing you can do about it. Just say it._ He was looking around, eyes desperate, trying to find something, anything, anything that would save him.

“Naruto, I…” he repeated, eyes reverting back to the dying man.

The Hokage smiled gently to him.

“Naruto… I… I…”

“Sasuke… I am sorry…”

It’s as if the raven had been shot in the guts. He stared at the Seventh.

“… I’m the one who’s sorry. I lied. I did it. I killed Hinata. I’m so sorry. I killed her. I killer her. I killer her… I lied. I did it. I killed her. I killer her. I did not want to. I did not want to… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… I did it… I lied…”

The Uchiha put his head on the fox chest, clenching his teeth, hyperventilating through his nose, his lungs fighting to get the air his throat would not get in.

“You did not lie… I am the one who lied… The one that has always lied… I am sorry Sasuke… We were never friends.”

 

[1]    Mangetsu means full moon in Japanese

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Sigh...


	37. Look at me

Tsunade punched the mirror in her bathroom. The problem when you were immensely strong was that you always had to restrain yourself, even when you wanted to let it all out. Her fist had gone through the wall, but she could not care less… the house was still standing. She could not look at herself, she was ashamed and felt her young features were a disgrace.

Contrarily to popular belief, she was not maintaining a youthful appearance because she was obsessed with beauty and age. It took her long enough to figure it out, but she had understood that by paralyzing her image into the past, she was subconsciously keeping it alive. There had been a part of her, wishing that they would come back to her and that everything would be the same. That they would’ve not lost any of the time they were meant to have. They were not supposed to have aged apart. They should have grown old together. By the time she came to acknowledge the reasons for her rejuvenating jutsu, she had been retaining it for so many years that she could not let go of it. She could not recognize the woman she saw in the mirror when facing her true appearance. Inside, she did not feel the way she really looked.

This morning, however, she felt twenty years older than she truly was. She felt tired, fragile, withered and battered. Why was she, the old one, still alive when so many young and valuable ninjas had perished ? How could she pretend to be one of them, when they sacrificed their lives for the village, for the people of Konoha, for people like her. It was ignominious to pretend to be part of a generation falling into battle, when she no longer met the field, when they sought her advice but not her services. She was worn out and hurting. She could not keep on a face that belonged with those who die in battle.  

How could Sakura meet such a horrendous end ? She put a hand over her heart, she might have an attack just thinking of it. She was in such an atrocious state when they found her body. She put her other hand over her mouth. Haruno Sakura, her pupil… Of course everybody always talked about the boys : the blond, for whom he had become and the dark-haired for the one he always was. To Tsunade, however, the ninja who had truly bested them all was the pink-haired one. She would’ve lost in combat to her team seven comrades, but if you had to judge them from what they had been born with to where they had gotten, her apprentice had supplanted them both. Even Shizune had not been able to complete the Strenght of a Hundred Seal. Contrarily to the Fifth and Seventh, she had not been from a line of Kages or from an extraordinary clan like the Uchiha. She had still been able to summon Katsuyu. She had not been a drunk or a gambler like she was. She had never been afraid of her feelings for the man she loved. She had always been loyal, hell, she had every quality that the Sannin did not. And yet, it was still the battered woman who was standing.

Her head was spinning. She could not think about Naruto. It was Nawaki all over again. How was it even possible ?

“Tsunade-sama ?”

Shizune had knocked and entered. She saw her companion sitting on the edge of her bath, hand over her face, with long silver hair. She ran to her side.

“Have you been injured ?”

The elderly woman took her hand down and looked at her long-time friend and assistant. “I am old, Shizune. For the first time in my life, I feel it… I might as well look like it.”

The former apprentice understood her feeling, but had a hard time not to stare at this lady that suddenly looked so fragile. “He’s awake, Tsunade-sama.”

She closed her eyes, relieved that the wait was over, yet having to breathe to calm her heart. She was a wreck, incredibly anxious about what she would find out. Her distress was even greater knowing that however things would be explained, there would be no happy ending. Konoha was beside itself from angriness and grief and there was only one man standing to throw the blame at.

“Thank you, Shizune. You may go and make them aware of my coming.”

The Hokage had been standing in his office with Shikamaru. In a puff of smoke, he had disappeared, leaving behind its skin like a deflated bag. The event had downright traumatized the Nara. He knew about bunshins disappearing, but they had never left their blue eyes staring at him and their teeth falling to the ground, chiming like a child’s beads. He had sent half of all the joonins standing in search of the Seventh, each party led by a member of the Izunuka clan or by one of Kakashi’s nindogs.

She had read all of their reports. They had found the raven, on his knees, hands on his thighs, face hidden by his hair, next to the deceased Kage. His bloody sword was planted on the ground surrounded by ashes. A few feet away, laid the body of a naked toddler. While he talked to them, he kept his eyes closed. He had told them that he had been waiting for them as he had not wanted to disgrace the memory of the Seventh, carrying him like a sack of potatoes on his shoulder, having only one arm. He explained that they would find Sai and Sakura’s bodies in an underground facility beneath them. It was possible the remains of Shino and Kiba could be around the perimeter if they had not been completely eradicated by the tailed beast's bombs during the fight against Orochimaru. He gave them the coordinates of Hinata’s body, since he had been unable to retrieve her to the village, as he had had to keep track of the Hokage being under the control of Kurama’s scorching chakra. He told them he had been the one to kill her, even though it was not his intentions, as he thought he was executing his former master’s clone.

He went on saying that Konoha would probably be summoned to a Lords, Kages and councillors summit, as the Mizukage and Tsuchikage had found death, being separated of their bijuus by the white snake. He stated that he ought to be put in prison, because he was the only one left and that most of his story could not be verified. The only witnesses were the Kazekage and Killer B of Kumogakure, but they had only been there in the end, for the fight with Orochimaru. However, the body of the little boy was evidence that needed to be retrieved, as it was the last body to be produced by the Sannin.

There had been a long silence after that. Konohamaru had not been able to wait for the end of his speech and had gotten down on his knees beside Naruto. He was looking at him as if he had never seen him before. He was not crying, too shocked to process what he was seeing and hearing.

“How did he… ? How could he… ? What happened ?” he asked mostly to himself.

“He died so Ootsutsuki Kaguya would live.”

The Sarutobi had slowly raised his head to meet gaze with Sasuke. The black-haired ninja did not look at him. The joonin asserted a hook to the man facing him.

“Kaguya ? The bitch you sealed when I was a boy ? What is wrong with you ? Are you really thinking we will believe your shitty story ?”

“No.”

Sasuke had opened his eyes to look at the young man. The joonin stepped back, horrified.

“You filthy piece of… you took her eyes.”

“She implanted them…”

“YOU TOOK YOUR HOKAGE’S WIFE EYES ! What kind of sick pig are you ?”

The raven was baffled for a brief second. He had thought long enough before Konoha’s joonins found them but he had not forseen that these eyes could’ve been mistaken for Hinata’s. The initial situation was worst then he thought. It would resolve as soon as they would retrieve her body, but he was sure that right now, it seemed more likely to be the Hyuuga clan’s gems than those of a rabbit goddess that was not even here anymore.

“They are Kaguya’s…”

“AGAIN ? And where is she, huh ? WHERE IS SHE ?”

“I forced her to leave, to return from where she came from, or I would've killed her.”

The blue scarf wearing ninja laughed and launched himself onto the Uchiha, who did not retaliate or defend himself. Choji sent Udon and Moegi to stop him and get him back beside him.

“That’s enough, Konohamaru. We know nothing of the situation. We cannot presume, however strong the indications seem to be. We are shinobis, not judges. You will leave for Konoha right away, with Udon and Moegi, as to inform Shikamaru of the situation. You will tell him that…” the Akimichi hesitated for a moment. He had to close his eyes and clear his throat.  “…  that the Seventh Hokage is dead and that we have to presume that the others are too. You will come back with everything necessary as to properly bring back the bodies of the Seventh and of our deceased fellow ninjas home. Go.”

The news of the death of Uzumaki Naruto, the Leaf’s hero, Konoha’s beloved Hokage, spread to the entire village like the flames of a raging fire. When the ninjas came back, the inhabitants were forming a compact mass at the gates, which cleared a path as to allow the procession to walk in. It had been decided that the raven would walk amongst them, as to not aroused suspicion on his potential implications on the many deaths. If he was shown mourning, instead of being brought back secretly through another entrance, it would nip the rumours in the bud. It was less for the Uchiha’s protection than to avoid to be confronted to an angry horde.

Kakahis’s nindogs had been able to retrace some bones fragment of Shino, but the insect's nest had been obliterated during the fight and most of the Aburame’s remains had been reduced to dust, covering the ground, floating in the air. The Izunuka clan had searched for Kiba, whom they found a couple of kilometres away, his body entirely broken, as he had been thrown into multiple trees by the force of the tailed beats bombs. There was nothing left of his pup, but its ashes, which would be buried with his master. They had retrieved Sakura’s and Sai’s bodies after longs hours of digging into the ground and carefully picking up stones one by one as to avoid another internal collapse of the hideout. Hinata’s body, like all of the others, had been placed onto a stretcher and covered with a white linen sheet. The Seventh was placed onto a litter and the white silk sheet of which he was covered had been embroidered with the kanji of the Seventh Hokage.

When Himawari saw the richly decorated litter of her father, she turned away, grabbing her grandmother’s neck. Boruto freed himself from his grandfather’s hold and stepped forward. He went beside his father’s litter and started to walk with the other shinobis. Sarada did the same when the procession passed in front of her. However, she could not tell which one was her mother from under the linen. She saw her father, walking with two joonins by his sides, his eyes closed. She went to confront him.

“Open your eyes !”

Choji, who had first thought that the girl had come to her father to seek comfort, sensed her anger and knew right away it had to be contained as to not be allowed to spread.

“Get back Sarada,” he ordered.

Her grandparents went through the crowd to get to her side. She pushed them away.

“You can’t even look at me ! Coward !”

Boruto who had heard her, had left his father’s side and came beside her.

“Sarada… your father didn’t do that.”

She activated her Sharingan forcing his lips sealed and kept her grandparents away.

“LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME YOU DID NOT MURDER HER !”

Even if they had not been talking about the same person, his daughter using the same words as Naruto brought such turmoil to the Uchiha that he opened his eyes, even though it had been agreed with the Amikichi that he would not. Shock silence took hold of the children and everyone surrounding them.

“You… you killed my mom…” muttered the Uzumaki boy.

The people around gasped and a murmur started so spread. Choji clenched his teeth. It was no time for a riot. He called the procession to accentuate the paste. He went to the blond boy, who was on the verge to cause a scene. He was too late. A first stone was thrown from the crowd in direction of Sasuke. It flickered the teen’s angriness.

“YOU KILLED MY MOM !”

The fat man stopped Boruto from launching himself onto the dark-haired ninja. A motion flowed through the crowd as they pressed themselves on the procession. There were names called out and stones being thrown. In a flash, the villagers had become an enraged mob and the joonins had to protect Sasuke, preserve the bodies from being overturned and stepped on and prevent any civilian injuries. Shikamaru used his multiple shadow binding technique as to immobilize the people who had entered in a fight, but calm only returned when Tsunade shattered the road with a punch, sending the earth trembling and most of the villagers fell.

She had now entered the prison and was facing the cell where the raven was detained in, mostly for his own protection. He had been sleeping for two entire days. It had given her time to talk with the other council members about what to do next. Like so many years ago, his eyes were blindfolded with a seal and his upper body was strapped so he could not sign any jutsu. She waited for him to notice her presence. She slid a hand between the bars of his cell and unfolded his eyes. She gasped, dropping the blindfold to the floor.

“Sasuke… What on earth have you done ?”


	38. Trial

Sarada was staring at the ceiling in her bedroom at her grandparent’s house. She had been for many hours. She wasn’t sure if she had slept at all. She was waiting for the sky to clear, for the first rays to penetrate her window. Two days after the procession, they had buried her mother, Boruto’s mother, Inojin’s father Sai, Tamaki’s lover, Kiba and Aburame Shibi’s last son, Shino. The council had stated that the Hokage’s funeral would be held in two weeks, so there would be enough time to hold an international ceremony, conjoined with the Tsuchikage’s and Mizukage’s burial. It was all political bullshit to the girl. By laying to rest the three Kages in one memorial service, the countries were reinforcing their shaken ties. They did not care about the shaken Uzumaki children.

The day after that, had been the hearing of her father’s story. It had been a monumental torture. His story was so complex, twisted and unbelievable that his daughter had flushed many times while listening. She could not believe he would come up with a fake story, but numerous details were simply out of this world. Most of the time she could not think and only felt disgust for this man. She had wanted to yell many times while he spoke. How could a jutsu to grow skin to look like anyone, fooled him into beheading Boruto’s mother ? That had been very hard to hear. Her blood had rushed to her hears, she had been ashamed to be related to him. At some point, Bolt had laughed hysterically when her dad told everyone about Ootsutsuki Kaguya being a guardian of love from Mangetsu, accompanied by a Black Zetsu who in reality had been her lover Hinoka, also guardian of love. He had fallen down his chair laughing while her father recounted that after the Seventh’s death, Kaguya had explained that the snake who had killed toddler Orochimaru was Jinmenju, a little land spirit that had once been imprisoned in the God Tree, and had been protecting Kaguya. He told the judges that she had assured him that the God Tree could not regrow as it had been devoid of Jinmenju. That is when, out of anger, this old man of her told the Ootsutsuki to leave Earth and never come back, because he was on the verge to slit her throat. Boruto had to be taken out of the room, his booming laughter echoing through the room.

She stared at her breakfast, but did not touch it. She tried, because her grandparents had gotten up as soon as she was out of her room and were attending to her every need. She pushed the food aside in her plate as to pretend having eaten. When it had been long enough and that everything was cold, she got up to clean, but they would not let her do so. She brushed her teeth and she was out. Everything was quiet. She had a couple of hours before the trial would resume. Today, they would question him. She was one of the few people that were allowed in. The members of the council, the Lords, the interim Hokage, Shikadai’s father and family members of the ninjas who had perished. She wanted none of her friends to suffer the way they did, but bitterly wished that her father had died too, not coming back being suspected of having slaughtered them all. She felt the way people were looking at her. She hated her stupid Uchiha name, she was not wearing any of the clothes bearing the ugly fan, despised her black jet hair, loathed the Sharingan she could not totally control and manifested every time she was angry or hurt and nowadays it was all the time. She would’ve given anything to look like her mother. Her imbecile mother who had longed for her asshole father all of her life. She lifted her glasses, wiped some tears, abhorring both of them.

A running idiot stumbled into her, making them fall to the ground, scratching on the ground the hands that stopped their fall. They insulted each other simultaneously.

“OUCH, dimwit !”

“OI, moron !”

Bolt, wiping his red eyes with his sleeve recognized Sarada. They looked at each other for a moment. They did not need to ask the other what they were doing out so early, nor did they need to apologize for not looking where they were going. They would not ask how they were doing. She took the dirt out of her injured hands. He rubbed his knees free of gravel. They walked together without talking and set off into a wheat field, the long stems hiding them as they lay on their back to look at the clouds. They stayed silent for some time, words could not express what they felt. They simply found comfort in each other’s presence.

“Even though his story is hard to believe, I don’t think your father killed anyone…”

“Not even your mother ?”

“Not even my dad.”

She did not answer right away, her chest heavily compressed. She turned her head to look at him. He turned his head too.

“Why ?”

“Because they were best friends… just… just like we are… right ?”

He took hold of her hand. She frowned, her bottom lip trembled. She opened her mouth for a silent scream and when she was finally able to breathe in, it triggered sobbing.

“I… hate him… so much.”

Boruto turned on his back, looking away, but no letting go of her hand. He clenched his jaws, pinching his lips.

“Don’t say that.”

She let go her his hand. She furiously wiped her eyes with the palm of her hands, still fighting the tears.

“Easy… for you… to say… your dad… was the hero…”

“I HATED HIM ! … I thought… I thought I hated him… and because of that… I didn’t say… goodbye…”

His voice cracked and he could not hold it any longer. He was crying hard. She spooned him, hugging him tight. They both wept and after some time, they fell asleep.

The sun was high, hot and shiny when she woke up. Sarada seated, rubbed her right eye and yawned. She gasped. She put a hand on Bolt’s chest and shake him up.

“Wake up ! Wake up ! What time is it ? We’ll miss the trial !”

The courtroom was a small, round room, in which the seats were surrounding her father, standing in the middle. They arrived last. She went to sit beside her grandmother. She had asked her granny to be seated so she would not have to face the man. She did not want to have to look him in the eyes. So, she was now seating looking at his back. Boruto, on the opposite side of the room had crossed his arms and was looking at his feet. He may believe her father was not guilty, but he was not capable of looking at him. Her old man was still blindfolded and heavily strapped.  

The judges were fumbling with tons of papers. Different reports, she guessed. They had missed the preliminaries, they were already on with the questions. The judges took turn in asking questions, never the same man talking twice. There were five of them. One for each of the assembled shinobi nations. The process was very intimidating.

“According to you, Aburame Shino had been dead for three years before the actual events, how could nobody noticed that the man living in Konoha was in fact Orochimaru ?”

“I suppose he was able to fool everybody exactly because he impersonated him for three years without anything happening.”

“How did Orochimaru knew about the exact time of the Kages summit ?”

“I don’t know.”

“How did Orochimaru gained control of Hyuuga Hinata ?”

“I suppose through the bugs.”

“You suppose ?”

“I have not seen the insects flew out of her… but they must’ve been already out when I came back to get my sword.”

“How, even if he impersonated Aburame Shino, did Orochimaru infiltrated the Hokage’s house and took control of Hinata using insects without the ANBU team constantly surveilling noticing ?”

“I don’t know.”

“Who knew that the yang part of Kurama was “free”, not being sealed into the Lord Seventh Hokage ?”

“Only Naara Shikamaru and myself.”

“Why didn’t Lord Hokage healed in his usual manner after each episode of being under the torment of the tailed beast evil chakra ?”

“My guess is that since Orochimaru had control over Kurama, he also controlled Kyuubi’s powers to heal.”

“How could you be fooled so easily and decapitate Hyuuga Hinata ?”

“No eyes, however powerful they may be, can tell the difference between a clone and a real person.”

“Why did you become blind after the death of Hurano Sakura ?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did Orochimaru took your eyes if you were blind ?”

“I don’t know.”

“How could Orochimaru unseal Ootsutsuki Kaguya ?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t you need the powers of all the tailed beast to do so ?”

“Yes… I suppose he could have access to them all through the Seventh Hokage.”

“Mmmmm... Don’t you need…” The judge went through pages of reports of the Fourth World War. “…the God Tree ?”

“Yes. The God Tree was there when I was able to escape the hideout.”

“How was Orochimaru able to grow another God Tree ?”

“I don’t know.”

“What happened to the edo tensei Shino ?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did Lord Hokage attacked you when Ootsutsuki Kaguya was healing you ?”

“Because he knew that I had killed Hyuuga Hinata.”

“How ?”

“Orochimaru must’ve told him.”

“Why did all the bijuus not arrived together ?”

“I think… that is because they may be not as strong when they are free…”

“Why did Lord Tsuchikage and Lord Mizukage arrived before Lord Kazekage and shinobi Killer B ?”

“From what I understood from the experience of Lord the Seventh, it takes time to adjust and synchronize with the bijuu you are hosting. Lord Kazekage and shinobi Killer B have been hosts of tailed beast since childhood…”

“Why was Lord Seventh so easily controlled then ?”

“Because Orochimaru had directly accessed to Kurama through the wild part he had sealed within himself.”

“And how do you know all that ?”

“Because I’ve seen it through the cloned eyes.”

“You have seen it happened with your own eyes, but you were not the perpetrator ?”

“… I think there was a connection between Uchiha Itachi’s original eyes and the cloned ones that were created by Orochimaru.”

“And why didn’t that link activated since the very first time Orochimaru used it and allowed you to avoid the death of so many shinobis and of three Lord Kages ?”

“I don’t know… maybe Orochimaru was blocking it on my side.”

“Why didn’t you block his attempts at using your eyes ?”

“I didn’t know he was using them…”

“Your tomeos faded and you could not use your powers, yet you did not question yourself ?”

“I… I… I… did… but I never would’ve imagined I had cloned eyes.”

“Didn’t the Lord Seventh wanted to investigate the matter ?”

“… I had not told him about it.”

“You hid from your Kage that you had lost most of your powers ?”

“Yes.”

“Why ?”

“… I… I… A part of me was relieved to… have gotten rid of it…”

“Why ?”

“Because… as powerful they are… they are a burden.”

“Why ?”

“Because they are feared.”

“Why ?”

“Because in my teenage years, I used them to hurt many people.”

“You did not use them as an adult ?”

“I have, as mentioned in all of my reports to Lord Seventh.”

“Why did Ootsutsuki Kaguya leave ?”

“Because I threatened to kill her.”

“Why ?”

“Because Lord Seventh had died because of her.”

“Didn’t you try, on multiple occasions in the past, to murder Uzumaki Naruto ?”

“… Yes. When I was…”

“Why would you care about him passing away, then ?”

“… We were… close friends…”

“That did not stop you from trying to kill him before…”

“I was wrong.”

“Did you not have the perfect opportunity to do it now ?”

“I did not kill him.”

“But it was the perfect moment. As Hokage, Lord Seventh was always surrounded and well guarded. You had a unique chance, as you were alone with him. Now was the time to do what you had you could not do so long ago.”

“… I did not kill him back then, because deep down I never wanted to.”

“Maybe you still did not want to, but were forced by circumstances ?”

“He knocked me out and extracted Kurama out of his body and transferred the fox into Ootsutsuki Kaguya.”

“How do you know if you were knocked out ?”

“… It is the only valid explanation for her regaining consciousness.”

“Yet, she is not here to validate it.”

“No.”

“Because you threatened to kill her if she stayed.”

“Yes.”

“Did you not kill her because she wanted her eyes back, but you wanted to keep the extraordinary powers to yourself ?”

“She did not ask them back. If she had, I would’ve returned them.”

“Leaving you blind ?”

“Leaving me blind.”

“Why did you want to keep them ?”

“I did not… I was not thinking about that.”

“What were you thinking about ?”

“… That I could not prevent any of their deaths…”

“If you were knocked out, you simply presumed that Lord Seventh sacrificed himself for Ootsutsuki Kaguya. She may have killed him. In that case you are guilty of having let go the murderer of the Hokage.”

“And if not, you still may be guilty of having killed him yourself.”

“How did you absorb Orochimaru’s powers ?”

“… I … did not…”

“Are you related to the white snake, then ?”

“Related ?... No… Surely you know he is not an Uchiha.”

“Are you part of a secret society that requires of you to bear some similar traits  ?”

“… What ?… No… I do not understand…”

“How do you explain your eyes then ?”

“The Byakugans ? …”

“The features that appeared while you were in prison.”

“The features ?”

“Do you claim of not knowing ?”

“Not knowing what ?”

One of the judges signalled an ANBU guard. “Please remove his blindfold.”

The crowd facing the raven gasped loudly. Sarada got up on her seat and jumped down beside her dad. She took the steps necessary to face him and looked up. Her mouth opened in silent shock. She shuddered, put a hand over her mouth before looking away and leaving the room. Aside from the Byakugans, which were, in themselves, a troubling sight, her father eyes were surrounded by the unmistakable thick purple marks.


	39. Choice

It had become a morning routine for both of them. They would meet at dawn and hide into the same wheat field looking at the clouds at first, talking a bit, crying, comforting each other, Sarada hugging Boruto tight, not the other way around, the twelve-year-old teen did not even want to try, and they would fall asleep.

Bolt did not believe his dad rival to have killed his parents or any of his parents' friends. He did not know why. His story had been beyond ridiculous. It was impossible for it to be entirely true. Maybe there were some ninja secrets he needed to preserve as to keep Konoha safe. That’s why he would be telling such stupid lies. It bothered him though, the great ninja had the reputation of being super smart, so he could not grasp why he would not come up with a better story. He used to look up to the man, he thought of him as uber-cool. Now… he just seemed weird and socially unfit. Still… something inside him knew he had not killed everyone, including Sarada’s mom.

At first, when he had seen his eyes, it had pained him very much. The Byakugans were something he had only ever seen in the Hyuuga clan. It was a very well-preserved Kekkei Genkai. Having just learned about his mother’s death and seeing these ghost eyes on his face… it had been surreal. As they had no pupil, no colour, you could not differentiate any of the Hyuuga clan members by their eyes. He had been struck, wanting very much to see his mom again, but they could’ve been mistaken for his grandfather’s, her aunt, or any Hyuuga. He had never seen Kaguya and as Sarada’s father had the Rinne Sharingan… it fit his story. Of all the fucked up things he had been babbling about… that one, he believed. Anyway, the forensic pathologist had confirmed that his mother still had her eyes…

There had been a day in between Uchiha Sasuke’s questioning and when jinchuuriki Killer B had been summoned to court. It had been a very short court session.

“Please state your name, origin and occupation.”

“My name is Killer B, I am a jinchuuriki. I am from Kumogakure as is Gyuki, but to the world I belong and roam freely.”

“Have you been informed as to why you have been summoned to this court ?”

“I have to confess, as I am a witness of a terrible mess. My friend is helpless, so I’ll take a part in this game of chess.”

“Please refrain yourself from performing rhymes while you talk to the judges.”

“And taking your head out of your ass, may prove impossible, alas.”

Boruto had been laughing so hard that he had been thrown out of court, again. Soon after, he discovered that the entire session had been dismissed : Killer B professing rhythmic insults to the judges. Another day went by and it was Lord Kazekage’s turn to be summoned as witness. Gaara of the sand had also been on his top list of incredibly cool guys. He had wished more than once to be the son of the awesome red composed Kage. Now he just wished he had not lost the one dad he had.

“How did you leave your village without being seen or followed ?”

“You do not deserve the Kage title if you cannot sneak out of your own village at night undetected. And… I was ordered to sneak out undetected of the village by the Sharingan user controlling Shukaku.”

“Did you actually see Orochimaru kill Lord Tsuchikage and Lord Mizukage ?”

“No.”

“They were already dead when you arrived ?”

“Yes.”

“So, you cannot testify of who killed them ?”

“I trusted the Lord Seventh and Uchiha Sasuke on that matter.”

“Have you seen Orochimaru with your own eyes?”

“Yes.”

“Can you describe the man for us ?”

Gaara hesitated… he clenched his teeth. He knew where this was going. “He had transferred himself into the clone of a teenag Uchiha Sasuke.”

“That description does not fit the man.”

“It was him.”

“Have you, at any moment, seen Orochimaru, with the characteristically thick purple lines around his eyes ?”

“… No.”

“Did you see him use his white snake corporeal form ?”

“No.”

“Did he actually say out loud that he was Orochimaru ?”

“No.”

“So you are telling us that the only thing you saw was a clone of an adolescent Uchiha Sasuke, which has been presented by the same man as being Orochimaru.”

“… Yes. Lord Seventh also referred to him as being the Sannin.”

“Unfortunately, the Seventh Hokage cannot testify of that, Kazekage-sama.”

“Unfortunately.”

“Did you see Ootsutuski Kaguya ?”

“Yes.”

“With your own eyes ?”

“Yes.”

“She was still there and alive when you left with the body of Lord Mizukage ?”

“Yes.”

“Did she have her eyes ?”

“No. After she gave her eyes to Uchiha Sasuke, Black Zetsu covered her forehead as to give her sight.”

“Who is Black Zetsu ?”

“Like a son of Kaguya, or the materialization of her will… I am not sure. I was under the infinite tsukyomi for that part of the Fourth War… What I know about it is what I’ve read in the reports.”

“You actually saw Ootsutsuki Kaguya give her eyes to Uchiha Sasuke ?”

“No.”

“How can you be sure that these were her eyes ?”

“Well… he had Byakugans which is a Kekkei Genkai and the Rinne Sharingan and she did not…”

“But you did not see how nor when it was done ?”

“No.”

“Why have you not followed protocol and let two representatives of the same village execute the teenager ?”

“Because the Lord Seventh had just lost friends and his wife to the hand of Orochimaru and Uchiha Sasuke had been used by the same man when he was younger.”

“Who persuaded you into leaving ?”

“Both men.”

“Was the teenager still alive when you left ?”

“Yes.”

“Was the Lord Seventh ?”

“Yes.”

“Couldn’t Uchiha Sasuke have been under the use of Orochimaru once again ?”

“I beg your pardon ?”

“What if Orochimaru still had Uchiha Sasuke under his influence and tasked him to get rid of Ootsutsuki Kaguya and the Lord Seventh ?”

“I do not believe it to be true.”

 “Why ?”

“Because it was the other way around. Uchiha Sasuke had put Orochimaru under a dream only the Rinne Sharingan can produce.”

“Do you know anything about a guardian ?”

“A guardian ?... A guardian of what ?... No.”

“Have you heard of the name Jinmenju ?”

“No.”

“Have you seen a spirit of the land ?”

“A what ?... No.”

“Do you know anything about Mangetsu ?”

“No.”

“Have you ever heard of Hinoka ?”

“No.”

“Did you notice any significant changes to Uchiha Sasuke’s physiognomy ?”

“Sorry… what ?”

“Were there any modifications that you noticed on his appearance ?”

“Well, the Byagukans, of course…”

“And nothing else ?”

“Well… no.”

“Are you certain ? Nothing on his face ?”

“… I do not understand where this is going, but apart from the goddess’s eyes, Uchiha Sasuke bore the same features he has been since adulthood.”

The judges deliberated for two days. The day the session was resumed, Sarada had not been able to find sleep into the fields. She had not been talking at all, fidgeting with her hands. Boruto had been delicately patting her on the shoulder. That was as much as he could touch her. He wished that under the circumstances, he would be able to look at her like a sister, just as he was able to interact with Himawari. But it was impossible. They got very early to court, they were the first ones to sit. Bolt seated next to his friend this time. He knew that whatever the verdict, she would take it hard. Her eyes were closed and she was holding herself. The judges were the last one to enter. Her father was standing silently in the middle of the court room. He was looking down. He had heard his grandfather say that if he was innocent, he should’ve worn his head high and not look like he was ashamed. The Hyuuga clan was a harsh one with stern members…  His mother had been the one exception. The thought sent his eyes tingling. He turned his head and hid it on Sarada’s shoulder. She leaned her head onto his. All of sudden, she tensed. Boruto had not been listening and the judges were now ready to deliver their verdict.

“Uchiha Sasuke. The court could not establish with absolute certainty that you are guilty of the death of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Hurano Sakura, Sai and of Lord Seventh Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto. Therefore, you cannot be sentenced to be executed nor to be condemned to a life-term emprisonnement.”

Sarada exhaled and all of her body relaxed. She was on the verge of tears, but then, another judge continued : “But, the court could not either establish with absolute certainty that you were not linked to the death of mentioned shinobis and of Lord Seventh Hokage. Therefore, it has been determined that you would be given a choice. You will have twenty-four hours to think about it before being summoned back to court to tell the judges what you decided.”

Both Sarada and Bolt had become very stiff. They had gripped tightly the edges of their chair. Another judge rose to announce the choice her father had.

“Uchiha Sasuke. You may choose to be banned of Konohagakure and of every city that belongs to the shinobi world and live as an exile, or, you may choose to live within Konoha’s walls and never leave the city, but at the cost of having your eyes removed first. Court is adjourned.”

A heavy silence fell onto the courtroom. Two ANBU members went to the raven’s side and made him turn around to face the exit. His gaze fell onto his daughter. Sarada instantly got up. They looked at each other for a brief moment and his daughter left the room without looking back. The black-haired ninja was escorted out. Bolt regained composure and followed the girl out.

Outside, someone grabbed his arm. He turned around. Sarada’s grandfather had taken hold of him, his wife beside him. He bowed respectfully to them and greeted them with the usual courtesies. Hurano Kizashi let go of his arm.

“Do you know where she went ?”

He bit the interior of his inferior lip. He did not know if he should tell.

“Will you go and comfort her ?”

He slightly nodded.

“You will get her back home before nightfall, is that understood ?”

He nodded again.

“Go, son.”

He dashed in direction of the field. He found her thrashing the wheat, Sharingan activated, grunting angrily and crying in pain. He took her by the hand and they ran. They went out of the village, into the surrounding forest and into a small clearing that looked like an outside workshop. There were a wooden table and a bench. Everywhere around were faces, hands, foot, legs, arms and torsos, all mostly sculpted in soapstone, some of them in alabaster and only a very few pieces were made out of limestone and sandstone.

“This is Jiyuseki-san studio as he calls it. He is the son of Konoha’s official sculptor. The one who has been carving out of the cliff the faces of the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Hokages. One day, when I had, as he says, degraded once again the work of his father, he brought me here. He said that I could trash everything that was made out of soapstone, which has a nearly black or dark grey colour. I’ve found it very liberating.”

Boruto took a leg and smashed it on the ground. Sarada picked up a hand, feeling uneasy. The proportions were wrong, but she still could’ve not done such work. She inhaled and let it fall to the ground. It cracked. She repeated the process with a visage and found much more salvation in breaking it. Soon, she was running around to get all the carvings bearing aspects of a face and threw them as hard as she could. They all exploded in tiny shards. Bolt had backed away, leaning against a tree, looking at her. He did not feel like breaking anything. He may never feel like it anymore.

She halted, took in both hands one particular sculpted stone and tears fell silently in a continuous flow. He went to her side. The figure she was looking at bore feminine traits. He took it from her, put it onto the wooden table and took her in his arms.

“She loved him so. He always left. He’s gonna leave… He’s gonna go,” she said.

“I know… I know.”

They hugged tightly. She was crying loudly. He was hurting badly and if she could not keep strong, neither could he. He wriggled his nose, trying to fight the tears, but with no avail. He wiped his face, he took her by the shoulders. He was tired of always crying.

“Don’t cry, I beg you, Sarada.” He put her glasses on top of her head. He wiped her face with both his hands. “I cry if you cry Sarada. Please, don’t.”  He placed a lock of hair behind her left ear. “My mom too loved my dad so much. They both did not deserve it.”

He rubbed his eyes and caressed her cheeks softly with the tip of his fingers as to make the tears disappear. He leaned it and put his lips on hers for a long, sweet, chaste kiss.


	40. Deranged woman

The man turned the mirror over so Sasuke could look at his reflection. If he had not been attached to the bed, he would’ve fallen off of it. He had shoulder length pink hair, he had six thick scars on his cheeks, three on each of them and most terrifyingly, he was in a women’s body. He had bruises and gashes all over his face, neck and arms. He passed a shaking hand through the hair. They were his.

“You’ve always wanted us to dye your hair this colour ever since you were a little girl,” blabbered the woman.

He touched the scars on his cheeks with the tip of his fingers.

“You’ve done that in one of your first intense psychotic fits, before we knew what plagued you, before you began your treatment, sweetie,” continued on the lady.

He looked at his left arm, it was not a prosthetic one ; it was real.

“No, Emma, you never lost your arm,” spat the man.

The raven relaxed when his senses came back to him and he realized he was under genjutsu… again. This was a weird one. The woman sat next to him on the bed. He stiffened as she caressed his hair. She sighed.

“Kiku, watashi no dārin[1]… I have patiently learned Japanese over the years so I could reach out to you… when the time would come. It is long overdue, but I could never bring myself to… There are no Sasuke, no Naruto, no Sakura. You created them. I have watched you construct this elaborate play of yours since… If only you knew how much it is a beautiful, yet painful process to observe. We have been trying with all of our might to protect you from the atrocities you went through as a little girl, but they keep coming back to haunt you…” The lady signified her bag to the man. He gave it to her. She got a photo album out of it. She opened it as she kept on talking to the Uchiha.

“These are your parents, Nathan and Henrietta.” She pointed a photo of a blond man standing next to a dark-haired woman, wearing sunglasses and holding a white cane. She pointed another photo of a black-haired man. “That man, here, was your father’s…. friend, Sasha. You used to consider that man as a big brother. This is you with him.” She pointed a picture of a little redheaded girl, wearing a fox costume, showing a bag full of sweets to the man disguised as a crow. “He used to call you his little monster fox…” She inhaled deeply, forcing herself to the rest of the story. “Your parents were… murdered and you were saved by your auntie, Sophia… she is a japanologist.” She pointed to the picture of a pink-haired woman. “Up until now, Sasha had been convicted of the murder of your parents. But you knew Emma, you have always known. It was not him. In your own way, you have been trying to tell us, but we were not listening...”

The young woman looked around him. She didn’t know if he was crazy. However, she preferred to continue living in his mind than to be confronted to the truth they were force-feeding her. He gauged her eyes out, the world around not being good enough.

 

[1]    Listen, my darling


	41. Hashirama's legacy

He was back into his cell, still blindfolded, still strapped. He had been to court, he had faced the judges. He had looked up into the assistance. Sarada and Boruto had not been there. He had anticipated it. It had still pained him. They had sent him back to his cell for another twenty-four hours so they could close the case before they could abide by his choice. Tsunade had come to visit him, as she had done every day. He had asked her for a favour. He could’ve not plead his case in the courtroom, but the fifth Hokage might have a strong enough voice so she could make the judges listen.

“I’m not sure I’ll be able to do that.”

“Please, you have to make it happen, Tsunade-sama. I have to see her one last time. I’ve never been much of a father.”

“After all these years, one would think you would’ve learned !”

“I wish I had. Maybe she wouldn’t have to be alone right now.”

“You don’t get it ! You were never much of a friend to Naruto and Sakura and they still wanted you around so bad that they chased after you for… all of their lives !”

Sasuke did not answer that. She was right, but that did not change the way he felt.

He had been pretending to sleep when two ANBU guards opened his cell. They helped him to get up, without taking off the blindfold or straps. They walked out of the prison, the village still sleeping. It was dusk ; only the birds were present and singing farewell. The air was full of the night’s chills. He was escorted out of Konoha, his blindfold lifted and freed of his straps once they were passed the gates. He stretched and moaned, relieved : he had liberty of his movements. He turned around ; the ANBU guards were nowhere to be seen. He looked over the wall circling the village and listened closely. He smiled sadly. He had gotten what he wanted. He took off into the woods.

He ran without pushing it. He was in no rush. He had all day. He did not want tomorrow to come. Running downtempo would not make time go slower, but it would take him later to his ultimate goal. He was anxiously anticipating that last moment. His daughter, for one last time… he truly hoped that she would understand. He had never been there for her.

He arrived at the scene of his first task. He took some time to let his emotions rush through him and live in the moment. He had lost so much here. He did not care that the judges did not believe him entirely. It did not affect him that most people thought he was a liar. Even he was not able to fully grasp everything that had happened. How could so few days bear such heavy consequences on his life, on so many people’s lives ? He had a thought for his brother who had encountered the horrors of war at such a young age. It had forged him to become the ninja he later came to be.

He walked amongst the scarred land : The collapsed ground revealing the immense underground facility. An international mourning had been called upon the shinobi world and so, nobody had yet been sent to investigate the scene. Once he was far enough from the forest, he looked around making sure nobody was there. He used the deva path to lift in the air all of the stones that covered the ground and threw them in a pile a couple of metres away. The ground shook, cracked and opened in many crevasses. He lifted all the parcels of earth covering the hideout and thew them over the pile of stones. The first floor of the entire underground facility laid there, open to the world. He walked around the cells, his gaze locked onto the one where his wife had died agonizing. He went along the corridor, there was an empty hall and the laboratory. He had been sensing Naruto’s chakra all along while he had been in his cell and he knew he had to have been in this particular room. He didn’t know if he would find something, anything, that had belonged to the Seventh. He jumped into the room.

The floor was covered of shards of glass and unidentified colourful liquids. Computers screens and monitors had been crashed, their electronics composant lying everywhere. He lifted up a large metal cabinet, forcing open its broken doors. There was nothing inside. He looked at the operating table that laid flat on the ground, its legs having given away. He looked around, as there was no other furniture ; he guessed that his Kage had been detained on it. His hand trembled… that what where it had happened. He did not want to get near it. His eyes drifted to the floor. Some glistening pieces caught his attention. He walked to it. There were many white fragments. He crouched and tossed away rocks and other debris when he saw another shard bearing flamboyant red paint.

It was his fox ANBU mask.

It had been shattered in a multitude of chips and most of it completely crushed. It didn’t seem like the whole thing, though. He got up and looked around, hopefull, seeing nothing. He looked down and lifted the operating table. There, its contour bearing superficial cracks, the other half laid. Sasuke stayed there, holding the table with his arm, staring at the broken fox. He was filled with deep misery and pure joy. Naruto had not completely vanished, that there was still a part of him, however small it was, that lingered here. Here, where all that was left of his Kage was half a porcelain mask. He threw the table away. He took the broken momento in his hand and went numb. The porcelain felt exactly like Orochimaru’s skin. He gritted his teeth, cursed the white snake for contaminating such a precious souvenir. He almost shattered it in a moment of pure fury, but put it in one of his inside pocket. He could leave now.

He jumped out of the hideout, waited, marking the fact that he was in plain sight, before he took a step and another and started running to get into the woods. He was onto his second goal for the day, his last one. Having these specific purposes made it easier to go through the pain. Made it easier to go through hours, minutes and seconds, that went on as a bamboo stick that slapped his back and lacerated his skin. Back in Konoha, he had not been imprisoned because he had been in a cell. He had been alone with his mind and heart and that had been worse than any torture. It had been worse than the verdict of the judges, worse than his daughter looking down at him with utter fury, with supreme disdain, with sheer hate. He understood why she felt that way. She had every right to. But he could not stand being caged inside his head, where he could not make sense of everything that had happened. He was continuously replaying the many scenarios in his head, doing things differently every time, finding the best way to react, to change the course of events, to get everybody home and alive.

He would force the insects out of Hinata, burn them in one Amaterasu look, tore to shreds the fake skin covering her. He would’ve teleported himself out of his cell, smash his teenage’s head onto the wall, get his wife and teammates out. He would set the edo tensei’s soul free and annihilate the bug colony. He would’ve bumped into the rescue team and not let Kiba be eaten alive. He would’ve slit Orochimaru throat and take his brother’s mangyekyos. He would’ve realized back then that the white snake had implanted cloned eyes. He would’ve never left Konoha. He would’ve not gone to the academy that day and would’ve stopped his brother before slaughtering the entire Uchiha clan… and Naruto would still be alive, still be Hokage, still be in Konoha, still be the people’s hero, still be everything Sasuke was not… and that would take the raven far away, far from the village, because he could not stand being in the Seventh presence for long.

He sat, his feet dangling over the waterfall. He took some time for himself and looked around, remembering. He wanted to say goodbye. He would never come back. He had been coming here regularly ever since their first real encounter, the first time they had really gauged their strength. It was their own private memory, of the two of them.

“Come out now, Uzumaki Boruto. Sarada, you stay there, I’ll see you after.”

He waited a little, they were probably arguing about what do to next. He rolled his eyes. It was incredible how impertinent and full of yourself you could be when you were twelve. He raised his hand in their direction.

“Don’t make me pull you over here boy, just come out now.”

He heard a forced laugh, just like one he had heard so many times. He had been wrong… there was so much more of Naruto that was left to the world than half an ANBU mask. The boy was tiptoeing, with an overstretched stressed smile on his face, scratching the back of his head. Sasuke was mesmerized ; being an actual idiot could be passed down through genes. He said nothing, looking at the teen. The more he looked at him, the more the boy seemed on the verge of imploding. Even for Naruto’s kid, the behaviour was awkward. He was trying to hide something and even though he was very bad at it, Sasuke could not guess what it was. Alas, he could not care less about the secretive life of a twelve years old. The boy hurled.

“I’M SORRY ! I WON’T DO IT AGAIN ! PLEASE DON’T KILL ME !”

Boruto had gone on his knees, his face on the ground, hands pressed together over his head. Sasuke sighed. He was such a loser. If he was anything like his father, and found what would make him able to get over that, he would be an immensely powerful ninja. The raven was sure of it, because Naruto had been the biggest loser of them all and his son did not seem any different.

“Stop your nonsense boy and come here.”

The Uzumaki got up, swaggering his way to the Uchiha. The raven put his hand over his face and chuckled. He could not believe this kid. He took the broken porcelain figure, the sensation of the glazed material making him shudder and hold it out for the teen. Boruto took it in his hands, forgetting to look strong and confident.

“It was your father’s. It belongs to you now.” Sasuke looked at Bolt right in the eyes. “If you ever doubt yourself, remember that Uzumaki Naruto always believed in himself and that he went through every day knowing he would be the greatest ninja to walk this earth, even though he was nothing and had no one… You’ve only known him as the Hokage and you’ve never seen him fight. This is what remains of his glory days. He bested me before and again and again all of his life… and nobody else ever did.”

The boy did not answer. He was fighting hard not to cry. The Uchiha saved him the trouble of repressing it any longer.

“Now scram, kiddo, go home. Just send Sarada to me on your way.”

He left without another word, not even three steps separated them before Boruto cracked and sobbed with all of his heart. The raven did not hold it against him, he had wept his heart out in the last couple of days.

Sarada came to him loudly, her steps betraying how infuriated she was. It was Sasuke’s turn to lose confidence. He didn’t know how to talk to his daughter. He didn’t know how to show he loved her. He wasn’t sure she would understand his decision. He looked at the stone face of Madara and thought that it must have been easier to fight Harashima than to face an infuriated almost a stranger 12-year-old daughter.

“What do you want ?”

He turned his head to look at her. The white pupiless eyes surrounded by the vicious purple lines made her squirm.

“… father…”

He was the first surprised to discover he still had some ascendant on the girl.

“Come sit next to me.”

“I won’t be waiting for you anymore… mo… Sa… nobody’s gonna wait for you.”

“Sarada, I don’t expect you to understand…”

“Oh ! I perfectly understand. You’ve never been there. There’s no way in hell you would choose a cripple blind life with me over a free-like-the-wind-no-looking-back-live-day-by-day-life !”

Sasuke got up and turned around. He looked at her. “You are so young, still a little girl, daughter of mine.”

She took it as an insult.

“A little girl ? I may be your daughter, but I am not a little girl anymore ! You missed those years ! I used to be little, but you weren’t there to see it ! I… I… I kissed Boruto the other day !”

The raven was taken by surprised. That explained the boy’s behaviour earlier. For a moment, Sasuke didn’t know what reaction he was supposed to have. He stayed there, impassible, incapable of deciding on what to say. Should he be mad, worried, protective ? Sarada shook her head.

“You just don’t care… you’ve never cared.”

Her daughter was not like him. She sought refuge in love, not in hate. “I should’ve done that... Kiss the one I love when I was young.”

His daughter was dumbstruck. “… You mean Mom ?”

The black-haired ninja smiled slightly from the corner of his mouth. “I never was much of a father. I’ve never known how to be your father. I am sorry for that. I’ll try to be, if you let me.”

“What, you’ll put me under genjutsu as to trick me into thinking you are there for me ? How are you going to be a father if you are banned from Konoha ?”

“Sarada, I’ve never, even for one second, considered leaving the village. I knew right away I’d stay with you.”

The girl’s sharingans activated. Tears streaked her cheeks. “But then… but why… why are we here ?”

“I asked the fifth Hokage for a favour. I knew you would not listen to me. So, I begged her to grant me one final trip outside the village. I knew you’d follow me and that would give us the chance to talk. I absolutely wanted to be able to look at you, as you are now, before I could not anymore.”

She could not bear to look at him any longer. She looked down, wiping her eyes with the back of her sleeve. Her throat hurt, she had a lump in it. Her voice was hoarse when she spoke.

“Why here ?”

“… I needed to say goodbye… to… many memories.”

“Why ? You’ve never been there for us, me… you never… showed you cared.”

“The Seventh and I had that in common that we did not have any model of parents. We were alone very quickly in life. I think we were both a kind of absent father who did not know how to love their children. It never meant that we did not love them. I love you, but it pains me, because I don’t know how to show you... I have never known how to love anyone.”

Sarada clenched her fists and cursed. Her father had never known how to love her or her mother. She raised her head and opened her eyes. She looked at him. He was so creepy.

“You teach me how to control the Sharingan… I’ll teach you about love.”

“Hn…”

He walked to his daughter and held her in his arm. She hesitated and hugged him back. He finally understood what Hashirama had said to the dying Madara. It was not about making your dreams come true, but to bring up a generation that would help fulfill it.

_Farewell, dobe._


	42. The Crow and the Fox

The door opened very silently. Most people would’ve not noticed it. But most people were not blind and did not have all of their other senses heightened. And he was not asleep. He was resting, as he was most of his days now. There were tiny felted steps. He smiled despite himself. The sneaky little cat had gotten just beside him.

“Boo !”

He snatched the young child who screamed with laughter and put her on his bed beside him, tickling her to death.

“Who’s that ? Who’s that entering my room while I’m sleeping ?”

“It’s me ! It’s me !”

“Sarada ?”

The child laughed again. “No.”

“Describe yourself to me.”

“I am a girl. I wear glasses. I have black eyes and black hairs.”

“That perfectly fits the description of my Sarada.”

The child grunted in disbelief. “Noooooo ! Grandma Sarada has white hair that is so long and her skin is very old.”

“That is not how I remember my daughter.”

Sarada entered the room. She sat on the bed. Today was a good day. It was one of those days when she told her family to come and visit her father. There were not so many of them anymore. Most of the time he was completely delirious and despite his mental state, he still had the heart-wrenching ability to sneak out of the house. Mostly he got to Unison Square, put both feet directly in the Victory fountain and shout insults at the marble moon. Once in a while he would go somewhere else. He would come back home by himself without her being able to know where he had been. Once, however, she found him several days later, kilometres away from the house, outside of the village, which he hadn’t left since his trial. He had been famished, dehydrated and his bare feet were bloodied. She had asked him where he was going. He had halted and broke down in her arms. There were no tears coming out of the empty sockets, but his silent pain had been strong.

“To the end… to the end…”

That’s all he was able to mutter for long minutes, before forgetting where he was and what he was doing there. He had developed an absolute aversion for snakes, which he burned to the ground with great fireballs. The children living around would bring all of the serpents they could find, just to get him furious and see him cast the famous Uchiha technique. He would demand to see and get angry about people that had been dead for more than sixty decades. He would talk about when ani-chan had become Hokage, about the Uchiha taking over the village, about why her mother had died for love, that love guarded us and not the opposite. He would ask for ramen, but would never eat any. He would talk about the importance of friends, but would never say he had any.

Today, he was lucid and he would play with his great-grandchildren. He would keep on confusing the little girls for her, but she thought he did that on purpose. On days like that, he seemed happy and that was all she wanted for her father right now.

“I’ve got a story for you Sarada. Do you wish to hear it ?”

The grandmother encouraged her granddaughter to answer for her.

“Yes.”

“It is titled _The Crow and the Fox_.”

“Is it a new one ?”

“No, it is very old.”

Sasuke lifted his chin up, remembering the words. He inhaled deeply and declaimed in very soft words :

“Perched on a tree sat Master Crow

While in his beak he held a cheese ;

Lured by the smell stood Master Fox below,

And hailed him in such words as these :

“What ! Master Crow ! good day ! how be ye ?

‘Pon honour I am glad to see ye !

How beautiful, how handsome ye appear !

How I should like to hear your note !

For if your warbling’s like your coat,

You are the phoenix of the forests here,”

At this the crow could not enough rejoice,

Opened a large beak to show his pretty voice ;

Down dropt the precious prey…

Which Reynard seized, and ran away,

Leaving this short adieu :

“Learn, my good fellow, that the flattering crew

Live at the cost of those they slyly please ;

I hope my lesson’s worth your cheese.”

The Crow too late, ashamed, and full of pain

Swore they should never bilk him so again[1]”

He was silent for a long time after that. At some point he realized he was alone, his daughter and the child having left. He had been lured so many times into their friendship. The fox had been courting him for years about it.

They were still boys, fighting over the waters that would dissipate their blood then and a few years later. He had been tainted by Orochimaru’s fake powers : the cursed seal. He had repeated to Naruto over and over that he would kill him. He had impaled the right lung of the Uzumaki boy with his arm. It took that severe injury, for the blond to understand that his intentions were true to his words. Sasuke wanted to kill the jinchuuriki, so his death would destroy their bond, because bonds made warriors weak. Itachi had proved that. Or so he thought back then. As the raven was subjected to Kurama’s chakra, the blond’s tears changing to furiousness, the dark-haired ninja had asked :

“What the hell… are you ?”

“A friend.”

They were meeting for the first time in two years in a half, outside of one of Orochimaru’s hideout. He was being cold-hearted and patronizing. He was looking down at them, the teenagers playing ninjas from Konoha. They had been through every obstacle in their way, they had been desperately hopeful. They were there, despite it all. Their eyes were full or turmoil as they recognized him, as they finally found him. He was distant. The boy that had left the village dead and buried in some forgotten pit of his personal hell. With every word, he spat on them and everything they represented.

“You’re going to end up losing your life, all at a whim of mine.”

“Like there’s any chance someone who can’t save a friend could become Hokage. Don’t you think ? … Sasuke.”

He had just killed Danzo, the truth about Itachi having sending him into a spiralling madness. He was vicious and dangerous. He would’ve killed Karin, he would’ve killed Kakashi-sensei, he would’ve killed Sakura, he would’ve killed anyone, it did not matter. As the lives of all of his clan had not mattered to anyone. It took him long enough to understand he had mirrored all of his self-hatred on everyone, because he could not stand the idea of having loathed and killed his brother. He could not stand the idea of having been a kid, of having understood nothing at all. He had barked for so many years to Naruto that he did not understand, but the truth was that he was the one who did not get it.

“Why do you care about me so much ?”

“Because I’m your friend.”

They had sealed Kaguya. The fate of the shinobi world resting on the results of their final battle. The Uzumaki gaining strength from others, the Uchiha taking strength from no one. He thought he was seeing things clearly. He thought he had abandoned the anger and the pain. He thought he had gained an objective view of the world. He had not realized he was so deep into despair that he had become numb. Nothing was worth being sad or happy for. Things were just as they were and you had to look at them impartially if you wanted to be able to take it. He wanted so much to cut the bond he had with the blond, so he could be a pure Hokage, who would bring justice with the clarity detachment brought. He had realized that he had been, in fact, completely detached from himself.

“You’ll die if you keep slacking like that.”

“There’s no way I’m letting you kill me. … You going on with the whole lone wolf act again… My one and only best friend…”

Even when it had been finally over. Even with not an once of chakra left. Even when there was nothing left to fight for. Even when there was no one else around. Even though their bodies were broken. Even when they were bleeding out. Even as they were dying. Even then, he still repeated it, again. He still kept on going with the same answer. His words never changing. His eyes giving him the same smile. It could’ve not been a lie then. It had to be the truth. It had to be what was of them. You could not go so far for someone and keep to yourself. The simple words he had been repeating for so many years… they would finally seek in. Sasuke had opened up to the flattering and lost his hearth in it.

“No matter what happened… Why do you care so much about me ?”

“Don’t you already know ? Heh, look at you, talking so much now just because you can’t move…”

“Shut up and just answer me !”

“That’s because you're my friend.”

“You already said that once. What does that mean… to you ?”

“If you want me to explain it, I’m not really sure how to put it… It’s just that when I hear you blabbering about carrying everything on your shoulders… I can kinda… feel the pain too. It really hurts. There’s no way I can just ignore it !”

And then, when Naruto had been dying and leaving him, cutting him loose of his precious bond, he had denied it all. He had chosen this moment to find the courage to admit that it had been false all this time. Or was it cowardice ? Why do that to him before leaving ? Why inflict him with such pain ? Had it been revenge, for all the distraught, he, Uchiha Sasuke, had caused ? It was so unlike him. The blond had never been one to hold a grudge. All of his life, he had fought ninjas and never enemies. The raven had never been able to voice it out loud, but the fox always had, again and again, up until the very end, cheated him on believing they were friends.

“You did not lie… I am the one who lied… The one that has always lied… I am sorry Sasuke… We were never friends.”

The raven’s eyes had shot wide open. He had stopped crying instantly. He had straightened his back up. He had stared at his Hokage, frozen in deep horror. He had been about… he had been about to tarnish the last moments of a dying man… the Seventh had laughed feebly, cringing, as it was harder for him to breathe.

“Teme… you have the same look you had… when I mocked you about Sakura… you know… back when…”

The Uzumaki had chortled silently.

“We… were… never just friends… Sasuke.”

He blond had imperceptibly lifted a trembling hand. The Uchiha had taken hold of it. He had summoned the strength to raise his other shaking hand and signal the dark-haired man to get closer. He had leaned over the fox. Naruto had put his free hand over the nape of Sasuke’s neck and invited him to rest his head against his chest. The fox had closed his eyes. The raven had his wide open. The dark-haired ninja had heard one slow heartbeat resonating. He had heard another one fading away. He had not heard a third one.

Thus, had been born the legend of the Seventh Hokage.

 

  

 

**THE END**

 

[1]    La Fontaine, Jean de. _The Crow and the Fox_. In _The Fables of La Fontaine_. Translated from French    (mainly by Robert Thomson). Book 1, fable 2, p. 18. London : J. C. Nimmo and Bain, 1884.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. This has been such a great experience. I am sad of seeing it end... but I hope to return with another story.
> 
> Thank you, thank you, thank you.


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